In recent weeks, nearly 15,000 Haitian refugees have made the journey to Del Rio, a small border community situated near the line between Texas and Mexico. Fleeing a country torn apart by gang violence, the assassination of their president, and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in August, they are seeking a new start in the country known for the American Dream.

Some are coming from South America, where they had already been living after immigrating there years ago. In other words, it has been a journey years in the making. Carrying belongings and crossing the Rio Grande River, they arrive at their makeshift encampment under the Del Rio International in an endless line.

The surge in Haitian migrants started in the first months of Biden’s term, when he began reversing many of former president Trump’s strict immigration policies. For migrants, this was taken as a sign that the U.S. would be more welcoming.

Many had heard the Biden Administration would let them enter, in a spread of false information. Others heard they’d be given a temporary protected status, in a spread of misunderstanding. So the migrants made their journey. Their arrival in Del Rio was not met with a warm welcome, put lightly.

In viral pictures and videos, U.S. Border Patrol agents on horses can be seen aggressively chasing the immigrants. Migrants fall into the river after being charged at. The agents can be heard yelling obscenities. They ride around twirling their reins, using them like whips, which people initially thought they were in photos.

Of course the encampment was overwhelmed by the migrants, however this is not an excuse for the harsh treatment; there is no valid excuse. One can only hope that something will come of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation into the matter.

To make matters worse, the U.S. has now begun mass deporting the Haitian immigrants in Del Rio, flying them back on planes to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, and Cap-Haitian. Some migrants are so young they have never been to Haiti before, while others haven’t been there in years.

The U.S. plans to ramp up to at most seven flights per day, making it potentially 1,000 people per day being deported. Several deportees from earlier flights say they were chained during the flight.
After landing, migrants ran back to the plane they had arrived on, in hopes of going back.

The U.S.’s actions are sickening. The Haitian refugees should not be shipped back to the country struck with economic and humanitarian problems they were so desperate to escape. Perhaps most infuriatingly, the migrants are being sent home without any opportunity to request asylum proceedings.

The whole thing is appalling, especially coming from the U.S., a rich and powerful country that certainly has the means to deal with it properly. It is a matter of giving everyone the same treatment and rights regardless of their skin color. Of course, the U.S. has always had trouble with that.