Haiti deportations soar as Biden administration deploys Trump-era health order

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Haiti deportations soar as Biden administration deploys Trump-era health order

There have been more ‘Title 42’ expulsions in the space of a few weeks than during an entire year of Trump’s administration, report says

Julian Borger in Washington
Thu 25 Mar 2021 09.00 GMT

The Biden administration has so far deported more Haitians in a few weeks than the Trump administration did in a whole year, with the use of a highly controversial Trump-era public health order denying asylum seekers basic legal rights, according to a new report.

The report, The Invisible Wall, due to be published on Thursday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups, focuses on Title 42, part of the 1944 Public Health Service Act invoked a year ago by the Trump administration as grounds for summary expulsion of migrants because of the supposed health risk they posed during the Covid pandemic.

The Biden team has sought to place a moratorium on deportations of immigrants already in the country (though that moratorium has been blocked by a court order), but it has not stopped Title 42 expulsions of newly arrived migrants. The report found the pace of deportation flights to Haiti in particular had increased dramatically.

“More Haitians have been removed to Haiti in the weeks since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office than during all of fiscal year 2020,” according to the Invisible Wall report, published by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, the Quixote Center, and the UndocuBlack Network.

In part at least, the rise in expulsions mirrors an increase in arrivals of Haitians at the border, misled by rumours and deliberate disinformation from people smugglers, that the Biden administration had relaxed the regime at the border. Most of the new arrivals have been waiting in Mexico for months hoping for a change in the rules affecting Haitians. Some of the deportees may also have been held in detention centres in the US.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/25/haiti-deportations-soar-as-biden-administration-deploys-trump-era-health-order

[Judi Lynn]

1. Very sad situation. Haitians have already gone to Cuba in great numbers for a very long time.

Guest Post: Creole, The Second Language Of Cuba
12 months ago1,922 Views4 Min Read
Cuba

Written by Jessica Laguerre

It’s no secret that Haiti our beautiful island and country has been found in the history of so many other nations around the world. It’s not with prejudice or without calculated reasoning that we proclaim Haiti “to rich to be poor”. Whether the influence is of music, and dance, spices, food, and war, it can be said that Haiti, can be fitted as a trailblazer, an ally or “The First”.

Despite many attempts of countries, either sore losing or ignorant, the truth and history about Haiti’s mark on the world can still be seen here today. Evidence in our walk, in our hearts and in our speech, language has always been, since the beginning of time a secret keeper to mysteries of a time period. With every tongue flick and with every accent we are telling on ourselves of just much we remember of times passed. So can many others especially in the Caribbean. Cuba being no exception.

The paths of Cuba and Haiti have crossed many times in the past the most notable introduction of Haiti’s culture and language is when French and Haitians with the arrival of Haitian immigrants to the country.

According to historians and documents that can be found on Afrocubanweb, Haitian culture, French and Haitian Creole languages first entered Cuba with the arrival of Haitian immigrants at the start of the 19th century. Haiti was a French colony, and the final years of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution brought a wave of French settlers fleeing with enslaved Haitian/Africans to Cuba. They came mainly to the east, and especially Guantanamo, where the French later introduced sugar cultivation, constructed sugar refineries and developed coffee plantations. By 1804, some 30,000 French were living in Baracoa and Maisí, the furthest eastern municipalities of the province.

With Haïti having a strong presence in Cuba, from this wave, came the Tumba Francesa and the Haïtian roots music in Cuba. Haïtian tradition contained a strong strain of Dahomey and Congo, both of which are present in western Cuba as well. Haïtian Rada is Cuban Arara, the Dahomey tradition.

Again we see an influx of Haitians in Cuba in the early 1900s that were brought in to help cut sugar. Unfortunately, around 1921 and again in 1937, when the market for sugar fell, they were simply kicked out and sent home, a time that was highlighted by Cuban Film Maker, Gloria Rolando, in the documentary “Reembarque” (Meaning Reshipment).

The neocolonial logic that resided with the people of Cuba, lifted after years of Haitians and their descendants in Cuba didn’t identify as Haitians because of discrimination to be met at the association with the island. That persecution becoming nearly non-existent when Fidel Castro came into power in 1957. By then, Cuba was perhaps the only country to have welcomed so many Haitians fleeing the persecution of the Haitian elites and savage regime attacks. There, reportedly over 300,000 recent arrivals in Cuba. And Creole, which is still spoken by descendants of the earlier waves, is Cuba’s second language, with a Creole radio program in Havana.

The majority of the Creole speakers that live in Cuba have never been to Haiti and do not possess Haitian ancestry, but merely learned it in their communities. In addition to the eastern provinces where they reside, there are also communities in Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey provinces where the population still maintains Creole, their mother tongue; due to the earlier influx in Haitian immigrants.

Haiti’s Influence and culture is alive in Cuba. There are several Haitian cultural organizations in Cuba such as Bannzil Kreyol Kiba, in addition to a number of Haitian roots groups playing in Cuba, including Ban Rrarra and Desandann. Classes in Creole are offered in Guantanamo, Matanzas and the City of Havana. There is a Creole-language radio program and Haitian immigration to Cuba has increased since a re-establishment of diplomatic relations in 1997.

Ayiti, what can be said, apparently many things, and in the same language.

We are small in size but with influence the size of the world.

https://www.lunionsuite.com/creole-second-language-cuba/

Haitian Culture celebrated in Santiago Cuba at The Fiesta del Fuego. The Festival is a burst of music, color &
fire rituals & electronic music played by best DJs in July. It includes a series of performances, exhibitions, & street celebrations w/the focus on Caribbean culture. pic.twitter.com/dXLVDZh0xx

— Lunionsuite 🇭🇹 (@LunionSuite) August 3, 2018

Many interesting photos of the Fiesta del Fuego in Cuba. I had never seen these, it looks SO lively, it would be a real experience to see the festivities in person! Google image link:
https://tinyurl.com/bvja354w