UN refugee chief: US evacuations of Haitians may be illegal | Abroad

The administration of US President Joe Biden is conducting evictions based on Title 42, an article of the Public Health Act that allows exceptional measures to be taken during a pandemic to ensure public health. Under former President Donald Trump, Title 42 was published during the advent of the coronavirus pandemic to close the United States’ northern and southern borders with Canada and Mexico.

This also prevented immigrants from entering, which, according to human rights activists, was exactly the government’s intent. Trump officials have always maintained that the measure was only intended to contain the spread of the coronavirus among border guards and immigration facilities.

People currently entering the United States are not given the opportunity to apply for asylum under Title 42. Grande attacks that. He accuses the United States of depriving most people who arrive at the southwestern land border of the United States of any opportunity to apply for asylum. According to Grandi, the United States is in violation of “international norms.”

Grande was shocked by images of what he called “unfortunate conditions” under a concrete bridge in Del Rio, Texas, where more than 14,000 Haitians gathered Sunday in the hope of seeking asylum. Images of border guards on horseback using the handles of their whips against migrants spread.

“While some people at the border may not be refugees, anyone claiming to have a well-founded fear of persecution in their country of origin should be able to apply for asylum,” said Shabia Mantou, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. . According to Mantoo, a person can only be deported or deported after that application has been evaluated.

Conditions along the United States’ southern border with Mexico have also caused an uproar in American politics. Republican Senator Mitt Romney called the camp a “disaster.”

Democratic President Joe Biden has also been criticized for being expelled from his party. Senate Leader Chuck Schumer called the deportation of immigrants to Haiti “contrary to common sense”. He also expressed his anger at the tactics used by border guards to control crowds.

Several hundred people have been sent to Haiti from camp in del Rio since Sunday. Thousands more were transferred to US prisons and shelters. US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mallorcas announced that deportation flights to Haiti will depart from Tuesday.

A new camp has sprung up on the Mexican side of the border, where groups like the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations migration office are helping migrants. Residents of neighboring Ciudad Acuna bring food to the migrants.