Humanitarian and civil rights organizations are protesting the U.S. government’s decision to resume deportations to Haiti, which was ravaged by an earthquake in January.

 

Advocates are upset over the move by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service because of a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed 2,700 people so far. About 130,000 more are infected with the disease.

 

The problem is especially bad in Haiti’s prisons, where deportees are likely to end up.

 

“The practice in Haiti, even before the earthquake, has been to detain many deportees from the United States in holding centers in Haiti with, as U.S. immigration judges have often noted, deplorable, substandard conditions and lack of medical care,” said the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, and Alternative Chance in a joint prepared statement.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Rights Groups Denounce U.S. Decision to Resume Deportations to Haiti Amid Cholera Outbreak and Worsening Humanitarian Situation (Center for Constitutional Rights)

ICE Should Not Resume Deportations to Haiti (by Jeffrey Kahn, Huffington Post)