Perfect storm leading Haitians to seek asylum in U.S.

Of the nearly 15,000 Haitian migrants who were camped under a bridge along the Texasmexico border, a fraction of that number remains on the Mexico side of the border at the time of this writing, following immediate expulsions from the U.S. back to Haiti. The U.S. special envoy to Haiti resigned due to “the United States’ inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants,” according to Reuters. And widespread condemnation has come as a result of images of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on horseback chasing, and appearing to strike, migrants at the border.

The current situation is not only complex in real time, but becomes increasingly complicated by the layers of crises and instability that the island nation has been subjected to, particularly in recent years. To help provide historical context and perspective on policy around Haitian migration to the U.S. are Jeangermain Gros and Carl Lindskoog. Gros, a native of Haiti who’s lived in the U.S. for more than 40 years, is a professor of political science and public administration at the University of Missouri-st. Louis. He specializes in African and Caribbean politics, comparative politics, and public administration/public policy with a focus on global health. Lindskoog is an associate professor of history at Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey, focused on issues of race, migration, empire and asylum. He’s the author of “Detain and Punish: Haitian Refugees and the Rise of the World’s Largest Immigration Detention System,” and a member of the Migration Scholar Collaborative, an organization of scholars working to decriminalize migration. (These interviews have been edited for length and clarity. For a longer version of this conversation, visit sandiegouniontribune.com/sdutlisa-deaderick-staff.html.)

Q: What are some of the current conditions of where many Haitian migrants previously were in South America, that have them leaving there and seeking asylum and residence in the U.S.?

Gros: Immediately after the 2010 earthquake, countries like Brazil and Chile were led by left-wing governments; these countries are now led by right-wing governments, governments that are less sympathetic to Haitian refugees. These South American countries are, at best, middle-income countries, they are not rich countries. Brazil has also been deeply affected by COVID-19, and the opportunities that Haitian refugees might have enjoyed when they first arrived in South America simply do not exist as much as they used to after 2010.

Once conditions in South America turned south, no pun intended, that, along with the belief that immigration laws under Biden had relaxed, combined to make the United States even more attractive. So, many of these people made great sacrifices selling belongings to make their way north, and many of them have family members already in the United States. They may have been thinking that if they just made it to the border, perhaps they could be left in the custody of a family member or friend already living in the United States. In fact, to some extent, this is happening. Some refugees are being transported to a processing center in Houston, Texas, where they hope to reunite with family members already in the country.

Q: There’s been a strong reaction to photography and video footage showing U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on horseback, chasing, and in some cases, seeming to strike Haitian immigrants as they attempted to apprehend them. Personally, it was disturbingly reminiscent of this country’s history of overseers on plantations. Is this a typical, or even previously practiced, form of apprehending undocumented immigrants? Are there any potential reasons you can think of for agents to take this course of action in this situation?

Lindskoog: To answer your first question, yes, there is a long history of border patrol agents using violence to apprehend and remove migrants, especially Mexican migrants, but others as well. This dates back to the creation of the Border Patrol in 1924. Even before, as you noted, in the slave patrols and in the policing of the movement of Black people and other racialized minorities; so, I agree with you that those were horrifying images and videos, especially if you recognize it in the long history of racial terror carried out against Black Americans, Black migrants, and especially immigrants of color.

To speak to your second question, I would say that to use this sort of violence and terror on people who are just trying to survive — they were trying to get some food and water, and were trying to exercise their rights to seek asylum — is appalling and utterly indefensible. Violence has been institutionalized in immigration enforcement in this country for many decades, there’s lots of examples of it. It doesn’t have to be this way, but that’s the way it is now and the way it’s been for some time. This is just the current manifestation of what’s been happening in plain view, and sometimes behind the scenes, for a long time.

Q: There obviously aren’t any simple or easy solutions to this current situation, but do you see any potential alternatives to the current expulsion policy?

Gros: As long as this world is divided between nations that are ultra-rich and those that are ultrapoor, nations that are ultra-rich will always be a magnet for citizens from countries that are ultra-poor. We’ve been trying to bring about development in poor countries since World War II, and not succeeded. That’s the solution, to basically make the world less unequal. That is unlikely to happen. You can build the wall, as the Trump administration tried to do, but that, at best, smacks of desperation rather than a real solution. Again, the ultimate solution is to improve conditions in poor countries, but no one seems to know exactly how to do that. You could have more humane immigration policies. For example, you can increase the number of immigrants that you take in legally every year, but the key is the disparity between the rich and poor countries, and the tremendous gap that exists between the haves and the have-nots, both globally and locally. As long as you have that gap, people will move with their feet from conditions of desperation, to conditions of hope.