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Torres: Racism on display as Haitians quickly sent home to chaos and violence | Opinion

John A. Torres
Florida Today
A United States Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on September 19, 2021.

Who knew that all it would take for the Biden administration to actually start securing the southern border and enforce immigration laws was to have Black people show up at our door?

Have you ever seen the government react so quickly to anything? Planes seem to have appeared from nowhere to taxi thousands of Haitian migrants back to their beleaguered  homeland. 

Let's face it, we've never wanted Haitians here. The U.S. immigration policy toward Cubans and Haitians proves that point. Any Cuban immigrant who makes it to U.S. waters is granted political asylum. Haitian immigrants are considered economic emigrants and not political refugees seeking safety from violence.

There are some who would consider poverty to be a form of violence.

And while we've seen the Biden administration fast-track some families back to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, citing COVID-19 concerns this summer, the reaction to the Haitians was done with blinding speed and efficiency.

It was also brutal and ugly.

Haitian migrants cross the Rio Grande as they hope to enter the U.S. via Del Rio, Texas from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.

If anyone helping make these decisions had ever visited Haiti, even just once in their lifetime, things would be much different at the border right now. Instead of watching federal agents on horseback chase down and coral Haitians like runaway slaves, we might be seeing some acts of kindness, some evidence of humanity.

Haiti, which happens to be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is literally hell on earth. And it has been for a long time, way before their president was gunned down a few months ago and the latest earthquake killed thousands and made many more thousands homeless.

Earthquake in Haiti: How do you make a difference in earthquake-ravaged Haiti? |Torres

We're talking about the same country where a Catholic priest — Jean-Bertrand Aristide — became president and later was accused of serious human rights abuses like encouraging setting gasoline-soaked tires around the necks of his enemies. Before that, the country endured a nearly 30-year reign of harsh, violent dictatorship rule from François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. 

I've been there numerous times, never more than four or five days at a clip. It's too much. The need, the desperation, the lack of clean drinking water and infrastructure most of the world takes for granted, the chaos, the lawlessness, is simply overwhelming. 

But here we are as a nation, chasing down and corralling Haitian immigrants and sending them home. I tracked down my old friend Lamothe Paul Lormier this week. He lived in Satellite Beach for many years, working to bring clean water to Haiti, before moving back eight years ago. I asked him what he thought of the speedy deportation of the Haitian migrants.

U.S. Border Patrol agents deter Haitians from returning to the U.S. on the bank of the Rio Grande after migrants crossed back to Mexico for food and water.

"I grew up under the dictatorship of both 'Papa Doc' and 'Baby Doc' and I never saw the country so unsafe but the last two years have been even worse," Lormier said. "Deporting Haitians to Haiti now is cynically wrong. U.S. special envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, put it perfectly well in his letter of resignation."

Former Satellite Beach resident Lamothe Paul Lormier moved back to Haiti eight years ago

Foote, who quit Wednesday over the despicable deportation of the Haitians, said in his resignation letter: " I will not be associated with the United states inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs in control of daily life. Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed and my recommendations have been ignored and dismissed."

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami also came out this week and blasted the administration for what appeared to be racist deportations of black immigrants.

A United States Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop Haitian migrants from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on September 19, 2021. The United States said Saturday it would ramp up deportation flights for thousands of migrants who flooded into the Texas border city of Del Rio, as authorities scramble to alleviate a burgeoning crisis for President Joe Biden's administration.

I asked Lornier what he thought of the images of the photos and news video this week showing mounted border patrol agents waving reins in the air and charging migrants as they crossed the Rio Grande.

"Those images reminded me of what took place during the time of slavery," he said. "It feels like slavery and Holocaust could happen again as the sociologist Stanley Milgram would put it. I felt nauseated when looking at the images."

He's not the only one.

Border crisis:Biden administration reacts to border crisis only after Black Haitians arrive | Opinion

On Friday, President Biden condemned the actions of the agents even as plane after plane shuttling Haitians back home continued taking off.

"It sends the wrong message. It's not who we are," the president said. 

Isn't it?

Contact Torres at 321-242-3684 or at jtorres@floridatoday.com. You can follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FTjohntorres.

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