The USA must stop Haitian deportations and the ill-treatment of Black people in the immigration system and restore asylum immediately.

In 2021, viral photos showed US immigration authorities violently dispersing a group of Haitian asylum-seekers at the Southern U.S. border on horseback – images that triggered the historical memory of slave patrols for people the world over. This inhumane treatment is not only horrific — it’s a violation of international law and the right of people to seek asylum.

Since then, the treatment of Haitian asylum-seekers has only worsened. Amnesty has documented human rights violations by U.S. authorities, including lack of access to asylum processes, chaining and shackling of Haitian asylum-seekers separating children from parents, and denying interpreters and legal representation.

This treatment amounts to race-based torture, rooted in systemic anti-Black discrimination.

The US government must end racist immigration policies and restore access to asylum now.