NEW YORK – With the Biden administration suspending deportation flights to Ukraine earlier this month, two Democratic Congressional lawmakers this week are calling for similar protections regarding Haitians.
In a letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, two congressional Democrats and House Haiti Caucus members called for an end to Title 42 and cited the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Haiti that forced the United States to redesignate Haitians for Temporary Protected Status last year.
The letter, signed by Rep. Mondaire Jones and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, comes as the Biden administration faces criticism for deporting over 20,000 people to Haiti in the past year, most of them under Title 42. Meanwhile, tens of thousands who have applied for asylum are awaiting their court dates.
“This Administration cannot have it both ways,” the letter read. “It cannot be that Haiti is in so deep a humanitarian crisis that people who have fled Haiti are entitled to Temporary Protected Status, but also that Haiti is safe enough that you can deport and expel people there by the tens of thousands.”
Despite lawsuits filed against the use of Title 42, a federal court ruled in February that the administration can continue using the policy in most cases. Since then, the Biden administration announced it would not use the policy to remove unaccompanied children from the country.
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