Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the Biden administration Tuesday to halt the deportation of Haitian migrants.
In his floor speech, Schumer criticized the administration for sending the migrants seeking asylum at the Texas-Mexico border back to Haiti, saying the decision “defies common sense.”
“I urge President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas to immediately put a stop to these expulsions and to end this Title 42 policy at our southern border,” Schumer said. “We cannot continue these hateful and xenophobic Trump policies that disregard our refugee laws. We must allow asylum seekers to present their claims at our ports of entry and be afforded due process.”
A federal judge last week ruled against the Biden administration’s use of the Trump-era public health order known as Title 42 to expel migrants without the opportunity to seek asylum, an order that’s set to go into effect within days.
Schumer’s remarks come as the Biden administration is under fire for images of Border Patrol on horseback pushing back Haitian migrants. The New York Democrat described the images as “completely unacceptable” and said that “the horrible treatment of these innocent people who have come to the border must stop immediately.”
The White House on Monday condemned the images, and the Department of Homeland Security said it was investigating the situation. But Schumer’s remarks are the latest criticism of the administration’s handling of thousands of Haitian migrants, many of whom are at a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas. The rise in Haitian migrants follows the assassination of its president earlier this year and a recent earthquake that killed thousands.