When thousands of asylum-seeking Haitians flooded the U.S.-Mexico border last month, officials were unprepared.
More than a month has passed since Estimates around the bumber of Haitian immigrants range from 13,000 to 27,000. and images of Border Patrol agents whipping at migrants at the Mexico-U.S. border sparked outrage among political leaders and critics of the BP.
According to BBC, “Thousands of predominantly Haitian migrants are still camped at the US border, where officials have struggled to provide them with food and sanitation.”
Many of the those at the border in October left Haiti after the earthquake that devastated the country in 2010 and are now fleeing instability in a number of countries in Latin America, where they had migrated a decade ago.
DHS had known about the impending surge of Haitian migrants at the southern border since July. But failure to communicate the anticipated wave and lack of preparation led to dire consequences.
Now, six weeks after the onset of the crisis when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers that answers to inquiries would be available “in days, not weeks”, the case is still open.
NPR reported this month that investigations into clashes between border patrol and Haitian migrants are still ongoing. Critics of the Border Patrol eye a “broken system” that they say moves slowly and with little transparency.
