Since the 1900s’ Haitians have immigrated to the United States as a result of conflicts such as, the assasination of their President, their shortage of fuel, and natural disasters surrounding their country. Starting around September of 2021 many Haitians have settled in Texas under the Del Rio bridge, which is a safe crossing site, and have been captured by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers. Haitians have been deported and others have been allowed to request for asylum or stay for other reasons.

According to Alejandro Mayorkas, “two thousand [of fifteen thousand Haitian migrants] had been deported to Haiti on U.S.-chartered flights and eight thousand had willingly returned to Mexico. The administration allowed twelve thousand migrants to enter the United States and have their requests for asylum or other permission to remain in the country evaluated by U.S. immigration judges. An additional five thousand migrants are being considered for the same opportunity.”

Haitian migrants have been coming to the U.S. for help and asylum. Although there should be a more permanent solution to this problem rather than deporting some and helping others due to the large number of Haitian migrants’, the fact that twelve thousand of them are being heard is significant.

According to Teaganne Finn a political reporter, Josh Lederman a news correspondent and Abigail Williams a producer and reporter, “Alejandro Mayorkas [the U.S Secretary of Homeland Security] blamed … misinformation about the Biden administration’s policy of Temporary Protected Status that allowed Haitians already in the U.S. prior to July 29 to stay for a temporary but undefined period of time. He said many falsely believed if they arrived now, they would also be allowed to stay.”

Prior to the Biden administration’s policy many Haitians had already immigrated to the U.S. This is because of the conditions of their country and the hope that they will receive help in the U.S. The fact that many were deported without being able to request asylum or be heard is extremely harsh but not all the blame should be placed on the initiation of the policy when many Haitians have set their sights on the U.S before the policy.

According to NBC correspondent, Julia Ainsley, “Haitians deported from the U.S. on Tuesday assaulted the pilots on board one of the flights when it arrived in Port-au-Prince and injured three U.S. immigration officers.”

Haitian migrants have injured personnel on planes and have caused flights to cancel. Although they are being brought to Haiti unwillingly their actions were unreasonable since the officials and the pilots are not to blame. The conflict of Haitians migrating to the U.S goes far deeper than what ICE officials and pilots can do. Government agencies such as the USCIS should be working on a solution and officials gathering Haitians should be handling the situation better rather than using brute force.