Haitian Migrants Met With Force at the US Border

BRIDGET CAMBRIA, CO-FOUNDER, ALDEA: I will say that the images that we’re seeing right now are shocking, and the images that we’re seeing for the response, the enforcement response by Border Patrol, are shocking. And the numbers that we see located and isolated in this particular area are rather large. But I will say that the existence of the asylum seeker on the Southern border is not something that’s new, and neither is the really targeted enforcement against particularly black immigrants and particularly Haitians in our history. It’s just for the first time I think we’re actually seeing it live in the news. And the images that we’re seeing are shocking, but I don’t think we should discount the fact that the targeted enforcement against the black immigrant on our Southern border has been happening for some time.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Well, let me play this by the homeland security secretary with regard to what you just said, to see if what he promises you think has a chance of happening. Let’s just play this.

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MAYORKAS: One cannot weaponize a horse to aggressively attack a child. That is unacceptable. That is not what our policies and our training require. Please understand, let me be quite clear, that is not acceptable. We will not tolerate mistreatment. And we will address it with full force base on the facts that we learn.

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AMANPOUR: So, major promises from very senior Americans right now about this. Do you think they will have a proper investigation? And how will they not tolerate? What will be the outcome of this? Do you think? We have — when the kids were put in cages — we have seen all this terrible stuff for way too long now. What do you hope will be the outcome of any investigation?

CAMBRIA: Well, I do welcome the comments of the secretary. I think that an investigation is absolutely necessary. But I will say that an investigation might not be enough. We have had children die in our Border Patrol stations. This has been ongoing issues with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the United States. And it just seems to not go away. We need more than investigations right now. We need action, and we need immediate action. And I think that what would live up to the secretary’s words is not only a full-force investigation now, but the immediate response, humanitarian response, of sending people to the United States Southern border right now to this Del Rio region, and addressing the humanitarian concerns of the asylum seekers on the border. And what does that mean? That means permitting full and fair access to our asylum system. It means not expelling Haitian migrants that are on the United States border right now, because they have a legitimate and legal right to seek asylum. And it means stopping the removal flights to Haiti, while we figure out what’s happening.