US criticized for expelling Haitian children from the border

By Africa China Review staff writer.

© UNICEF/Georges Harry Rouzier

Family sits in the rubble of the house they lost in a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Haiti.

The United States has been wide criticized for expelling Haitian migrants from its border especially children who are vulnerable to, ‘violence, poverty and displacement, ’according to a UNICEF statement. UNICEF urged US authorities to “refrain from any use of force at borders, to keep families together, and to properly assess migrants’ protection needs before any decision on return is made”. 

The migrants affected by the earthquake disaster, gang violence and the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, met with a show of force from border agents in Texas, with scenes broadcast around the world of horse-mounted officers violently corralling migrants, evoking tactics widely used in the slave-era South, UN agencies’ report said.

Migrants were said to have been deported by plane from the border area and more than 1,400 Haitians are reported to have been returned to their country since the deportation exercise. “Children should never be returned to situations where their basic safety and wellbeing are at risk”, UNICEF warned.  The deportation caused the protest resignation of the US special envoy for Haiti.

This calls into question the so called US values and human rights record.

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