- Videos showed border agents thrashing their reins at Haitian migrants near the US-Mexico border.
- Migrants have tried to enter the US as Haiti faces endemic poverty, violence, and political turmoil.
- Haiti's president was assassinated in July, and an earthquake killed over 2,000 in Haiti last month.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Monday said that video footage of Border Patrol agents on horseback thrashing their reins at Haitian migrants attempting to cross the US-Mexico border showed "human rights abuses."
"These are human rights abuses, plain and simple. Cruel, inhumane, and a violation of domestic and international law," Omar tweeted. "This needs a course correction and the issuance of a clear directive on how to humanely process asylums seekers at our border."
Echoing these sentiments, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also used Twitter to denounce Border Patrol.
"It doesn't matter if a Democrat or Republican is President, our immigration system is designed for cruelty towards and dehumanization of immigrants," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Immigration should not be a crime, and its criminalization is a relatively recent invention. This is a stain on our country."
The incident occurred over the weekend near Del Rio, Texas, as Haitian migrants sought to wade across the Rio Grande. Video footage from Al Jazeera showed agents on horseback thrashing their reins as they charged the migrants and sought to push them back, with one agent yelling, "This is why your country's shit because you use your women for this."
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the matter was being investigated. "The footage is extremely troubling and the facts learned from the full investigation, which will be conducted swiftly, will define the appropriate disciplinary actions to be taken," DHS said in a statement.
—Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) September 20, 2021
—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 20, 2021
—NBC News (@NBCNews) September 20, 2021
—John Holman (@johnholman100) September 20, 2021
—Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 20, 2021
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Many people have fled Haiti, which has faced myriad challenges for years, in recent months as the embattled country struggled with ongoing violence, poverty, and political strife.
Haiti has had a particularly chaotic year on account of the political turmoil brought on by the July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, which was closely followed by an earthquake in August that killed more than 2,000 people.
Thousands of migrants have gathered in a makeshift camp under a bridge in Del Rio.
—Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 20, 2021
Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to Del Rio on Monday as local and federal officials moved to deport or relocate the migrants to detention centers.
"We have seen a significant influx of Haitian migrants in Del Rio, TX. But we are surging resources, and @DHSgov is taking a multi-prong approach to this," Mayorkas tweeted Sunday. "We've surged approximately 600 agents so that we can gain complete control. We are moving people rapidly to other processing centers to ensure safety and security."
"We have sent a very clear message early on, in light of the fact that we are in the midst of a pandemic, that the border is not open, and people should not take the perilous journey here," Mayorkas added.
Deportation flights back to Haiti began Sunday.
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said during a press conference Sunday that 3,300 migrants had been relocated in the past few days.
