WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Biden administration has announced new immigration enforcement priorities amid the Haitian migration crisis.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said the new Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law aims to “better focus the department’s resources on the apprehension and removal of noncitizens who are a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security and advance the interests of justice by ensuring a case-by-case assessment of whether an individual poses a threat.”
In the last six months, Mayorkas said he held multiple engagements with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workforce and leadership across the country, as well as with a range of stakeholders including law enforcement, civic and community leaders to inform the new guidance.
“For the first time, our guidelines will, in the pursuit of public safety, require an assessment of the individual and take into account the totality of the facts and circumstances,” Mayorkas said.
“In exercising this discretion, we are guided by the knowledge that there are individuals in our country who have been here for generations and contributed to our country’s well-being, including those who have been on the frontline in the battle against COVID, lead congregations of faith, and teach our children.
“As we strive to provide them with a path to status, we will not work in conflict by spending resources seeking to remove those who do not pose a threat and, in fact, make our nation stronger,” he added.
Mayorkas said enforcement priorities for apprehension and removal remain focused on noncitizens who are a threat to US national security, public safety and border security.
But he said the guidelines are a break from a “categorical approach to enforcement.
“They require an assessment of the individual and the totality of the facts, and circumstances to ensure resources are focused most effectively on those who pose a threat,” said the US Homeland Security Secretary.
“There is also recognition that the majority of the more than 11 million undocumented or otherwise removable noncitizens in the United States have been contributing members of our communities across the country for years,” he added.
“The fact an individual is a removable noncitizen will not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them. The department’s personnel are to use their discretion and focus the department’s enforcement resources in a more targeted way.
“I am grateful to the ICE personnel for their candor and openness in our discussions about their critical law enforcement mission,” continued Mayorkas. “The new guidelines will enable our department to most effectively accomplish our law enforcement mission and, at the same time, advance our country’s well-being by recognizing the invaluable contributions of millions of individuals who are part of the fabric of our communities. The guidelines will help us exercise our prosecutorial discretion to achieve justice.”
He said the immigration enforcement guidelines require the protection of civil rights and civil liberties, stating that a noncitizen’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, national origin, political associations, or exercise of First Amendment rights cannot be factors in deciding to take enforcement action.
“For the first time, they explicitly guard against the use of immigration enforcement as a tool of retaliation for a noncitizen’s assertion of legal rights, such as the right to exercise workplace or tenant rights,” Mayorkas said. “The guidelines make clear that immigration enforcement authority shall not be used as an instrument of unscrupulous employers seeking to exploit their employees’ immigration status.”
He said continuous training, a process to review their effective implementation, extensive data collection and a case review process will all be required.
Mayorkas said the new guidelines replace the interim priorities issued by ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson in February and become effective November 29, 2021.
On Wednesday, the Homeland Security Secretary met with Haitian Ambassador to the United States Bocchit Edmond to discuss the nations’ continued cooperation.
“I appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with Ambassador Edmond about our shared commitment to ensuring that Haitian migrants are treated with dignity and respect,” Mayorkas said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the government of Haiti and other partners throughout the hemisphere as we work toward safe, orderly and humane management of migration in the region.”
Mayorkas thanked the Government of Haiti for supporting the safe return and re-integration of Haitian nationals.
He said he and Edmond agreed that “much work remains to be done to address the drivers of migration,” and that both acknowledged that “the displacement of people is a global crisis and needs worldwide attention.”
Mayorkas said he assured the Haitian ambassador that “the dignified and humane treatment of all individuals, regardless of their immigration status, is his top priority.”
The Secretary also said he shared that the investigation into mistreatment of Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas, is ongoing.
“The Department of Homeland Security continues its engagement with partners in the hemisphere, including Brazil and Chile, to ensure they, too, are doing their part to offer protection for vulnerable populations and receive individuals who had legal status there,” Mayorkas said.
Last week, a Haitian legislator in Brooklyn, New York dispatched a letter to Biden, appealing to him to stop the deportation of Haitian migrants and to end what he described as “the cruel treatment of Haitians.”
“I remain deeply troubled by the treatment of Haitian immigrants arriving at the Texas border as they travel north through South America and are subsequently being deported back to Haiti,” said New York City Council Member Dr. Mathieu Eugene, the first Haitian to be elected to the City Council, in his letter to Biden.
“Since 2010, Haiti has been subjected to several natural disasters, including tropical storms, two catastrophic earthquakes that caused significant devastation, and continued political unrest and socioeconomic instability,” added Dr. Eugene, chair of the Council Committee on Civil and Human Rights, who represents the predominantly 40th Council District in Brooklyn. “With each successive crisis, the rebuilding and recovery process is put into disarray, and the availability of critical resources for the country becomes even more limited.
“As I have stated on many occasions, Haiti is not prepared to handle an influx of deportees,” continued Eugene in his letter, a copy of which was made available to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). “The country is hurting, and the Haitian people are struggling every day to cope with a substantial amount of personal loss, including emotional and physical trauma, and financial uncertainty.
“Sending Haitian immigrants back to Haiti will only worsen the ongoing situation and will also increase the burden on their family members living in the United States, many of whom have established careers here,” he said. “They are doctors, nurses, cab drivers, medical professionals, business owners, teachers and entrepreneurs. Their work has supported our national economy for generations, and they have served a critical role during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the labor of our essential workers helped get our city, our state and our country through the darkest days of this public health crisis.”
The legislator said the Haitian refugees, who are traveling through Mexico into Texas, are “enduring extremely unsafe living conditions and are putting their lives at risk.
“They are human beings, and they have embarked on a very dangerous and treacherous journey to reach what they hope is a safe and stable environment,” he said. “I am urging you to stop their deportation, to help them, and to give Haitian immigrants the due process that they are entitled to.
“It is an important humanitarian gesture to accept Haitian immigrants in the United States, because it aligns with the principles and philosophy that this country was founded on,” Dr. Eugene said. “We are known around the world as a beacon of freedom, liberty and opportunity for all who seek it, and it is heartbreaking to witness the violent treatment of Haitian refugees at the border, knowing that this type of attack on human dignity should no longer occur in modern day America.
“I am confident that your administration will do what is right for these immigrants, because this situation is sending the wrong message to the global community about the values that the United States upholds,” he told Biden.
Last weekend, New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general across the United States in dispatching a letter to President Biden and Mayorkas expressing deep concern over the treatment of thousands of Haitian refugees currently seeking humanitarian aid along the border in Texas.
The coalition also urged the administration to reevaluate its rush to unfairly expel refugees to Haiti.
“I have seen the devastating and disturbing photos of border patrol officers on horseback using whips to corral Haitian refugees seeking asylum, and it’s clear that they have not been shown the humanity and concern they are owed,” James told CMC.
“We are a nation built by immigrants, and we cannot be callous and cruel towards individuals fleeing natural disaster, political instability, extreme poverty, and violence in their home country,” she added. “I stand with my fellow attorneys general in urging the Biden administration to end the mistreatment of Haitians at the border and demonstrate the morality and compassion that they deserve.”
In recent days, photographs and video emerged of US immigration officials using inhume tactics, including charging at and attempting to whip Haitian refugees, in Del Rio, Texas.
James noted that this comes as thousands of refugees continue to flee Haiti, as the French-speaking Caribbean country faces “unprecedented political upheaval following this summer’s presidential assassination and struggles to rebuild critical infrastructure after a destabilizing earthquake last month.”
In their letter, the attorneys general are calling on the Biden administration to ensure US federal officials treat Haitian refugees with dignity and compassion.
Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke has also joined her Massachusetts congressional colleague, Ayanna Soyini Pressley, in expressing deep concern over the resignation of US Special Envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote amid Washington’s decision to deport thousands of Haitian migrants at the Texas border.
“We are deeply troubled after reading Special Envoy to Haiti Ambassador Daniel Foote’s resignation letter and share Ambassador Foote’s concern regarding the inhumane and counterproductive decisions to deport Haitian refugees at our southern border,” said Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, and Pressley, who are co-chairs of the US House of Representatives’ Haiti Caucus.
Clarke represents the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, while Pressley represents Massachusetts’s 7th Congressional District.
“The Haitian state is still reeling from a series of compounding and emergent crises,” said Clarke and Pressley in a joint statement. “It is unconscionable the administration would choose to deport refugees to Haiti in its current capacity, and it must immediately reverse course and halt these cruel deportations indefinitely.
“In addition, it is disappointing Ambassador Foote’s celebrated experience within the Haitian civil society was not appreciated, and his wealth of knowledge will not continue to be available to Haiti,” added the co-chairs. “It is our hope the administration will consult members of the Haitian civil society, and members of Congress before appointing Ambassador Foote’s successor.
“Our efforts to support a Haitian-led democratic government’s stabilization and reemergence is paramount,” Clarke and Pressley continued. “America cannot continue on the path of inadequate political interventions in Haiti. We must reimagine our approach and policies to supporting our Haitian neighbors.”
Foote – who was appointed special envoy to Haiti in July, shortly after Haiti President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated – tendered his resignation because of the “inhumane” and “counterproductive” deportations of Haitian migrants.
