Black immigrants rights groups denounce Biden administration's deportation of Haitian asylum seekers

Del Rio, Texas (KABC) -- Thousands of asylum seekers from Haiti and other countries remain camped out under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas as the Biden administration is increasing its deportation efforts.

"We are working to increase the capacity of return flights to Haiti and other destinations. We anticipate at least one to three flights per day," said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

"The way that the administration has responded, the cowardice that they've shown, the anti-Blackness, the racism, the ... 'don't come' and even pushed by people whose own families are migrants," said Nana Gyamfi, executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI.) "It's callous. It's cruel, it's inhumane."

"We've heard stories of people talking about covering the eyes and ears of their children as they stepped over dead bodies of the jungle," she said.

The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland and blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico in a massive show of force that signals the beginning of what could be one of America's swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants or refugees in decades.

Organizations like BAJI have long denounced the Biden administration's continuation of Trump-era policy, Title 42. Citing COVID-19 concerns, immigration authorities can deport people seeking asylum, which is a right protected under international and U.S. law regardless of how a person arrives into the U.S.

"We have to continue to push back. We have to continue to say what is humanitarian aid is humanitarian parole," Gyamfi said.

Just over a month ago, Haiti was struck yet again by a large earthquake, and its president was killed.

"You can't help in this moment, Anabel to not do the comparison between the outpouring of love and attention to support for those who are fleeing Afghanistan, and for good reason. We want them to get that support. But we want that same support for our Haitian siblings who are also in need of humanitarian aid," said Gyamfi.

The organization launched an online toolkit urging people to contact their representatives.

"These are not people coming here to see you know, the sights and to go to the Hollywood sign," she said. "These are not people coming here so that they can you know, get a better job. These are people who are fleeing for their lives."