DETROIT, Sept. 24, 2021 — As Haitians reel from the recent devastating earthquake and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, many are seeking a better life for their families in the United States. In response to the latest crisis, U.S. authorities flew Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland and tried blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico.

“I demand that the U.S. government allows Haitians the same opportunities and respect given to white immigrants,” said state Rep. Cynthia A. Johnson (D-Detroit). “What we’re witnessing being done to the Haitian citizens is unconscionable. I am looking on  in horror at the continuing mistreatment of black people by the country in which I was born and raised.”

The U.S. expelled many of the more 12,000 Haitian refugees camped around a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.