The images of Haitian migrants at the Texas border have been hard to see for activists in South Florida.
“Those images are very hurtful,” said Dr. Marie Flore Lindor Latortue, an activist and professor at Miami Dade College.
Lindor Latortue says the most hurtful picture has been the one showing a border patrol agent on horseback using a horse’s reign like a whip.
“Number one, it’s disrespectful,” Lindor Latortue said. “Number two, it’s inhuman. Where is the respect?”
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She and others will be demanding that respect Wednesday at a rally outside the US Citizenship and Immigration Service at noon. The rally is to raise awareness of the crisis at the border and to call for deportations to stop.
“We are standing here for equal treatment,” said Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Family Action Network Movement. “We are standing here for justice.”
Bastien says many are seeking asylum from the turmoil and unrest in Haiti after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise and last month’s earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people.
“Haiti has been reeling under some of the worst crises in recent history,” Bastien said. "Heavily armed gangs are kidnapping and killing folks. This is a country going through a lot.”
The White House is facing sharp condemnation from Democrats for its handling of the influx of Haitian migrants at the U.S. southern border.
Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to end its use of a pandemic-era authority to deport migrants without giving them an opportunity to seek asylum in the United States.
At the same time, the administration continues to face attacks from Republicans, who say Biden isn't doing enough to deal with what they call a "crisis" at the border.
