UN human rights experts slam US for expulsion of Haitian migrants

WASHINGTON -- United Nations human rights experts this week accused the United States of "racialized exclusion" following its recent deportation of Haitian migrants amid a surge of Haitians along its southern border.

"In expediting the collective expulsion of Haitian migrants, the United States is subjecting a group of predominantly Black migrants to impermissible risks of refoulement and human rights abuse without any individualized evaluation," the experts said in a statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Monday.

The experts condemned the United States for "ongoing systematic mass deportation" of Haitian migrants and refugees, and cautioned that such collective expulsions violate international law.

"International law prohibits arbitrary or collective expulsions. States cannot label all migrants of a certain nationality per se threats to national security, and all migrants, no matter their nationality, race or migration status, must be guaranteed the protections called for under international law," the statement added.

During the past weeks, tens of thousands of Haitian migrants crossed the Rio Grande river between the city of Ciudad Acuna and Del Rio, a border city in Texas, trying to seek jobs and asylum in the United States. The number of migrants surged this year following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in August, the still raging COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the political turmoil after the Haitian president's assassination.