Haitian Americans in D-FW say they’re fed up over deportation of thousands of countrymen at border

Haitian American organizations in North Texas are frustrated by elected officials’ response to the crisis on the US-Mexico border near Del Rio, saying the thousands of Haitian migrants who have arrived there in the past few days are being treated inhumanely .

Migrants, many of whom have gathered under the Del Rio International Bridge, are waiting in dire conditions for a chance for US asylum. Images of law enforcement officers chasing them on horseback have helped put the crisis even more in the international spotlight.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott blamed President Joe Biden for the humanitarian crisis Tuesday, but the Biden administration has defended efforts to deport migrants from the area.

Marie-Frantz Rene from Plano, president of the Haitian American Association of Dallas-Fort Worth, said she was angry and overwhelmed by the situation and said she felt helpless to help her Haitians on the border.

“You have been through so much. That’s a humanitarian problem, OK? ”She said. “By sending them to Haiti, they will find themselves in even more misery. There is no education, no health care, no security in Haiti. Why shouldn’t they go to try to go elsewhere? “

Rene said several north Texas groups are mobilizing to find ways to help the migrants. She said migrants need help with translations and resources to find relatives while in the US. One of their biggest frustrations is the lack of help from elected officials in both Texas and Washington.

“We’re thinking of going to Austin to protest because we haven’t got any answers,” said Rene. “We may have to go to the Austin Capitol. …. We vote. So if they don’t hear our voices and want to know what’s going on with this situation, we will answer them when the voting time comes. “

Rene estimates that approximately 3,000 people in Dallas-Fort Worth are of Haitian descent.

Earlier this month, the association held a fundraiser to help Haitians recover from the August 14 earthquake that killed around 2,000 people and over, according to estimates by ReliefWeb, an intelligence agency for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 12,000 were injured. The 7.2 magnitude quake followed the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, which plunged the Caribbean nation into political turmoil.

Rene said her organization is focusing on the US-Mexico border and calling for empathy for the migrants, including those with no connection to Haiti.

“Haiti is your neighbor, and that’s how you treat your neighbor? You will treat your neighbor like that? ”Said René.

Dallas-based Maggie Augustin, treasurer of Dallas Haitians United, said the group is looking for volunteers to travel to Houston, where the organization expects Haitian migrants from Del Rio to arrive to apply for asylum status.

Augustin described former President Donald Trump’s treatment of migrants at the border as insidious, but said she was particularly hurt by the Biden administration’s handling of the current crisis.

“Ultimately, I didn’t see that promise come true,” she said.

She said, like Rene, that the pictures of Haitian migrants being followed by the police take an emotional toll on her and the Haitian community.

“To be honest, it’s so horrific. The kind of treatment they’re getting is amazing, it’s ridiculous, it’s crazy, ”she said.

Rose Pierre from Fort Worth is a member of the Haitian Social Circle in Dallas. Pierre said the organization has also started moving some of its humanitarian efforts to the border.

Pierre said 2021 would have been particularly difficult for people of Haitian descent. She described her current emotions as similar to driving on a dirt road.

“One minute you’ll be fine, the next minute you’ll be in a pothole, the next minute you don’t know what you’re going to get,” she said. “You are trying your best to prepare your mind for this, but you can never be 100% prepared mentally or emotionally because you do not know what is coming next.”

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