On July 7 this year, because the president was assassinated and killed, the embarrassment of Haiti and its nationals “eating soil” once attracted the attention of the world. The ensuing 7.3 magnitude earthquake once again left a heavy scar on this country that was already shaky due to “man-made disasters.”
Three months later, Haiti once again dominated the headlines of international news—this time, not on its own territory, but on the U.S.-Mexico border, which is about 700 kilometers away in a straight line.
On September 17, U.S. Western time, about 13,000 illegal immigrants—mostly from Haiti—passed a shallow river along the U.S.-Mexico border and entered the United States. Under the bridge, a temporary camp was set up, waiting for the disposal of the United States.
What exactly is going on?
Chaotic frontier
The bridge that gathers Haitian refugees is called “Rio Grande”, which connects the United States and Mexico, and belongs to a small town called “Del Rio” on the US-Mexico border. Refugees need to obtain the service “number plate” of the US Customs here, and wait for the US government to accept and dispose of them one by one.
The asylum-seeking escape suddenly became an absurd large-scale survival game.
On September 22, 2021, Haitian refugees gather under the “Rio Grande” bridge on the US-Mexico border
Judging from the drone aerial footage, the situation under the bridge is worrying. In what is described as a “rare sight in the last 20 years”, people are crowded around the bridge. Haitians carry simple luggage (some old bags or plastic basins), carry children on their shoulders, and go through knee-deep water. , To gather under the bridge.
And every real day spent on site may be worse and cruel than the pictures taken by drones flying overhead.
Because of the rapid increase in the number of refugees, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection is unable to properly and progressively handle it. The supposedly orderly “queue processing” has become a hopeless long wait. There is only running water and no supplies under the bridge. Many Haitians can only travel back and forth between the United States and Mexico, buying some simple food and simple cardboard for “settling” in Mexico, and temporarily settle down under the bridge.
The asylum-seeking escape suddenly became an absurd large-scale survival game. During the long and hopeless waiting process, some people set up tents or make do with cardboard; some people don’t even have the money to buy cardboard, so they can only collect materials from the spot, and build a shelter by the reeds by the water to hide their shame; Washing and drying clothes and bathing are all carried out in the river…
As the number of refugees gathering under the bridge is increasing, even this kind of life has become difficult to maintain-drinking water and food are gradually becoming scarce, and the empty space along the river is hard to find. The surrounding domestic garbage has spread 3 meters wide, and at an average high temperature of 37.7°C in the daytime, it exudes an odor and invisible bacteria. There are also refugees giving birth in such a bad environment. One of the women who had just given birth tested positive for the new crown after being sent to the hospital…
High temperature, virus and hopeless waiting mean hidden dangers that are difficult to control for the entire border area. What kind of turmoil and crisis will erupt in this limited space with 14,000 (the number is still climbing) hesitant people?
Cruel migration
Although the geographic distance between Haiti and the United States is not far away, none of the Haitian refugees “piling up” under the bridge at this moment can easily reach the US-Mexico border.
According to interviews with refugees by local media in Haiti, many female refugees who went to the United States from Haiti were raped many times on the way, and many died on the way. Thieves and local forces’ “robbery” is also commonplace.
Some refugees choose to take the water route to avoid “man-made disasters” and leave their fate to the uncertain weather and the ever-changing sea. In early September, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted a very rudimentary boat in Florida waters with 104 Haitian immigrants squeezed on it. They spent five days traveling across the ocean and finally landed and were treated. They were lucky.
Why would you rather travel through mountains and rivers, and even pay the price of your life, to abandon your homeland?
For Haitians who are determined to leave, this may not be a multiple-choice question of “stay” or “go out” at all, but the most helpless and final struggle to put them to death.
In the previous news, through the assassination of the President of Haiti, the earthquake in Haiti and other events, we were able to see the real life of Haitians—those who were hidden under topics such as “poor enough to eat the soil”, “the world is far apart from the next country”, etc. , Hopeless ordinary life. Before these major events were fermented, years of natural disasters and unstoppable political turmoil had long left Haitians “at a loss.” A woman who immigrated to the United States in a proper way and was responsible for Haiti affairs said that her life in Haiti was “very lacking in hope, and some were just shocks one after another, one trauma after another.”
The United States, which is not far away, seems to have always been free and warm in its advertised international image. It seems that as long as you set foot on that piece of land, you will gain the right to a peaceful life indiscriminately.
Daniel Ford, the resigned U.S. envoy to Haiti
On September 25, 2021, Haitian immigrants cross the river in a horse-drawn carriage
“America welcomes you”?
In fact, in addition to the “sweet hallucinations” emanating from the United States in the impression, more Haitians are attracted by the real “sweet rhetoric” of the United States.
From May to July of this year, during the time when the whole world is paying attention to Haiti, the Biden administration once proposed “providing refuge for those in need” in order to rebuild the reputation of the United States. At that time, the political crisis in Haiti broke out, human rights violations were often staged, crimes continued, and food, water and medical care were in short supply. The Biden administration has extended the temporary protection status of Haitians in the United States to protect them from deportation.
The United States obviously began to regret the show-like benevolence in the first place, thinking that unlimited admission might be a bad example.
This attitude seems to send a “America welcomes you” signal. However, the crowded and hopeless scene under the Rio Grande Bridge gave another answer.
On September 23, just two months after accepting the appointment, the US special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Ford, announced his resignation as a protest against the Biden administration’s repatriation of Haitian immigrants. In his resignation letter, Daniel Ford said: “The United States has made the inhumane and counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants back to Haiti. I will not agree with this decision.”
What kind of repatriation is this. And expelled? The irony is that the Haitian refugees came to the United States, who suffered all their skin and flesh, but in the same painful way they let them “go home.”
In a widely circulated video, US law enforcement officers wear cowboy hats, ride horses, and whip their whips to drive Haitian refugees out of the U.S. border as if they were driving cows and horses. Today, a large number of helicopters have been sent back to Haitian refugees. The United States is obviously beginning to regret the show-like kindness in the first place, thinking that unrestricted admission may be a bad example. “Leaving more Haitians in the United States may encourage people from other (countries) to try to enter the country illegally.” In the
face of protests from the international community, the United States stated that it would send relevant personnel to Haiti to “assess the situation”, and stated that it “strengthened.” The capabilities of the Haitian security forces are a key priority for the United States.”
But is this really the case?
After the immigration incident and deportation videos were fermented, Biden’s answer to an interview in his early years was turned out. Facing the problem of Haiti, he said: “If Haiti sinks quickly into the Caribbean Sea, or rises 300 feet, it will not have any effect on our interests.”
Perhaps, it has become a lonely narrow land in the shaky sea and a power. A chess piece used to show “compassion” in the cracks is the source of misfortune for those Haitian immigrants who traverse mountains and rivers and think that they are heading toward the light.
