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For asylum advocates, border expulsions strain faith in Biden By Reuters

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Haitian migrants walk together after U.S. authorities flew them out of a Texas border city on Sunday where thousands of mostly Haitians had gathered under a bridge after crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept

By Mica Rosenberg and Kristina Cooke

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Confused and tired-looking toddlers clung to their parents at Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti on Tuesday, among the 360 family members rapidly expelled from the U.S. over the past three days.

The scenes were captured by U.S. border officials on horseback, who used whip-like reigns to prevent Haitian migrants crossing the Rio Grande to get food and supplies to the encampment of nearly 10,000 Texas residents.

Reuters interviewed some U.S. officials who expressed concern over the images. They said that they had once high expectations of Joe Biden’s ability to quickly reverse Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies and restore American values and humanity to the immigration system.

Disillusioned advocates for immigration point out that Biden refused to repeal Trump’s most controversial policy, Title 42. This allows border agents to expel all migrants from Mexico and their homes without them having to submit an asylum application.

Biden extended March 2020’s U.S. Centers for Disease Control policy, arguing that it was necessary to maintain public health in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These expulsion and deterrence measures are harmful to asylum seekers. It is a violation in human rights,” Michael Knowles, president of AFGE Local 1924 (NYSE:), the union representing U.S. asylum officials. Reuters received information from Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Our members were outraged at the treatment of migrants and refusal by our border authorities to let them have asylum claims heard.

Reuters also heard from three USCIS employees, and an official of another government agency.

Border Patrol agents or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (NYSE:ICE) agents supervise border security and detention. Asylum officers conduct interviews with migrants and refugees in order to decide if they require protection.

Top Democratic lawmakers joined in the criticism https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-says-4000-haitian-migrants-moved-border-four-more-flights-come-mayorkas-2021-09-21. The dwindling goodwill among allies comes as Biden’s immigration agenda was dealt a blow on Sunday when the Senate https://www.reuters.com/world/us/senate-democrats-push-us-immigration-reform-hits-roadblock-2021-09-20 parliamentarian ruled Democratic proposals to give legal status to millions of immigrants in the United States could not be included in a budget reconciliation bill.

What do they believe in?

Biden exempted unaccompanied children from Title 42 expulsions during his first presidency. He has now included their families even though a federal judge ordered that they stop exiling them on Thursday. The government is appealing this order.

    Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union, who is suing Trump’s administration for the policy, said that a two-week suspension was necessary “to give the government the time to organize itself”. He also stated that it “was not our intention to gather as many people to expel them as possible, nor to expel any desperate Haitian asylum seekers.”

Trump’s administration claimed many of the asylum claims it was making were fraudulent and issued numerous policies to reduce protections. These moves were frequently criticized by Knowles, who is head of USCIS union.

A USCIS official spoke under anonymity as they were not allowed to talk to the media. He said that while it was clear it would take some time to reverse Trump-era policies, others are losing patience with slow reform.

The official stated that it was appalling and disgusting. What do these people believe, and is this acceptable? According to the official, some of their colleagues considered quitting their jobs.

An additional USCIS representative spoke about feeling “personally humiliated.”

USCIS sent a request to comment to DHS, who didn’t respond immediately.

RECORD CROSSINGS

On Tuesday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Title 42 was being applied to the fullest extent possible, while at the same time condemning the actions of the agents on horseback saying the incident was being investigated and those involved had been assigned administrative duties.

Republicans accuse Biden of encouraging illegal immigration by moving too quickly to repeal other Trump-era immigration reforms.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from August 2018, the border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico increased by 20 percent. There were close to 200,000 such encounters last month alone.

Biden’s presidency was marked by several executive actions that were praised by immigrants groups. These included ending Trump’s travel bans against several Muslim-majority nations and scrapping a policy which sent asylum seekers waiting in Mexico to attend U.S. court proceedings. Biden also removed unaccompanied minors (Title 42 expulsions) and decreased the amount of expelled families.

Rodney Scott (retired Border Patrol chief) wrote to Congress that Biden’s reverses created a problem at the border, and they constituted a national security risk. Trump supporters have been louder than the USCIS union. The unions representing border- and ICE agents are vocal Trump supporters.

Biden granted deportation relief earlier this year to about 150,000 Haitians with Temporary Protection Status. But the benefits are not available to people who arrived in America after July 29.

Biden admitted that conditions in Haiti are difficult, despite the country’s history of violence. It also recently experienced a Presidential Assassination as well as a devastating earthquake.

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