Washington, DC – Images of United States border agents in cowboy hats snapping reins like whips atop horses as they try to push Haitian migrants back across the Rio Grande River into Mexico drew widespread condemnation this week.
They also heaped mounting pressure on President Joe Biden to account for – and reverse – his administration’s plan to expel the majority of the more than 14,000 Haitians who have been camped under a bridge in southern Texas in hopes of getting asylum in the US.
Immigration advocates and international experts have said the country’s “obscene” expulsion policy and its treatment of the Haitian asylum seekers may be a violation of international law, while the US special envoy to Haiti resigned over what he called the “inhumane” decision to deport them.
But advocates also noted that the scenes at the southern border were starkly different to the welcome that thousands of Afghan refugees received in the US just weeks ago, fuelling more criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
“When you contrast the welcome mat that was rolled out for many Afghan refugees who are deserving – of course – of our support and resettlement, with the deplorable treatment of Black migrants on our own soil, it is just an unfathomable contrast,” said Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans, an immigrant advocacy organisation.
Americans from across the political spectrum have mobilised in recent weeks to welcome Afghans who were evacuated amid the hurried withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in late August as the country fell under the control of Taliban.
Food and clothing drives were organised as US officials launched a nationwide effort to help Afghans resettle in the country with the help of three former US presidents and more than 250 private businesses.
Experts said that most Americans are united around resettling Afghan refugees because they are perceived as loyal to the US, and Americans feel a sense of moral obligation towards them – a feeling that does not necessarily extend to people from other parts of the world.
