Request to Obama: Stop Haitian deportations

More than 300 individuals and organizations submitted a letter to the Obama Administration asking it to cease deporting people to Haiti. The request, led by the University of Miami School of Law’s Human Rights Clinic and its Immigration Clinic, argues that “deporting anyone to Haiti under current circumstances is inhumane and life-threatening.”

In a separate submission to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a division of the Organization of American States, the clinics’ staff plus the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Alternative Chance, and the Loyola University New Orleans Law Clinic and Social Justice Center, reported the distressing findings of a recent visit to Haiti. Included in their report is the death of Wildrick Guerrier, recently deported from the United States, who was allegedly told by police officials “you are here to die/suffer.

Update 2: On April 1, ICE announced that it was resuming deportations to Haiti. According to an ICE press release, “after a year of suspended removals, the U.S. government made the difficult decision to restart removals of a limited group of Haitian
nationals to ensure the safety of U.S. communities.” The Center for Constitutional Rights has compiled a wonderful resource page on this issue.

Update: The New York Times produced a 10-minute video that poignantly captures the experiences of recent deportees and that features some of the University of Miami and Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center staff who coordinated efforts to petition the Obama Administration and the IACHR.

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