Vol. 80/No. 41 October 31, 2016
‘Stop deporting Haitians!’ demands protest in Miami
Most deportations to Haiti were suspended after the 2010 earthquake; Haitians making it to the U.S. were allowed to enter on “humanitarian parole.”
On Sept. 21, Johnson announced that Haitians seeking asylum in the U.S. were no longer eligible and would be jailed pending deportation. “The situation in Haiti has improved sufficiently to permit the U.S. government to remove Haitian nationals on a more regular basis,” he said at the time.
The number of Haitian immigrants arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico grew to 4,346 in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Last year’s total was 795.
More than 2,000 Haitians in Tijuana, Mexico, are trying to get appointments with U.S. immigration officials to request entry into the U.S., and another 40,000 were trying to make their way there from Brazil and Central America, according to the Washington Post.
Some 40 people joined a picket line at U.S. immigration offices here Oct. 14 to demand Haitians in detention be released and programs that give Haitians work permits be extended.
“My family is from a village near the city of Jérémie,” Johnny Lang, a construction worker, told the Militant at the picket line. “Nearly all the crops were destroyed in the fields. What is especially hard to deal with were the fruits and flowers for export that give us an income for the year.”
A statement by Cynthia Jaquith, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Florida, was passed out by supporters of her campaign who joined the picket.
Jaquith called for an end to all deportations of Haitians in the U.S. She demanded the U.S. government provide massive aid — including, food, water, medicine, cooking stoves, fuel, seeds, and farm implements — with no strings attached.
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Imperialist plunder at root of Haiti storm disaster
US hurricane deaths demonstrate capitalist gov’t disdain for workers
Five months after Alberta fire, workers face capitalist disaster
New Zealand march protests contaminated water
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