Earlier this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted a new policy that may lead to additional deportations to Haiti. Just after the January 2010 earthquake that gravely affected Haiti, ICE halted all deportations to Haiti out of concern for people that would have been deported. In late January, however, ICE shifted its policy and deported 27 people to Haiti. One of those people died within days of arriving in Haiti, potentially of cholera, and another became very sick soon after arriving.
Many immigration and human rights organizations have voiced their concerns with ICE’s reversal of policy and are asking that the federal agency return to a halt of deportations.
“One year after the earthquake, Haiti remains in ruins and is now confronting a cholera epidemic. Our government is sending people back to horrific circumstances, possibly even death,” said David Leopold, president of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association. “AILA urges the Obama Administration to immediately suspend deportations while life-threatening conditions in Haiti persist.”
