It’s an understatement to say that the month of September brought significant disappointments on immigration policy by the Biden Administration.

First, undocumented communities and advocates were let down by the Parlimentarian’s decision to exclude a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, farmworkers, and essential workers from the “Build Back Better” bill.

Shortly after, the world saw the horrific footage of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents using horsewhips on Haitian migrants and dragging them by their clothing at the Southern border in Texas. These actions are a stark reminder of America’s early days, when the role of law enforcement meant slave catching. And while these communities were still suffering, the main response from our government remained “now is not the time to come”. 

And now, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released guidelines to ICE agents that continue the cruelty, exploitation, and abuse that outraged America during Trump’s years in office. This new prosecutorial discretion memo (PD memo) puts the lives and safety of millions of people at risk for deportation. 

This is beyond cruel and unacceptable — and this is not what our communities were promised on the campaign trail. How much longer will our communities be expected to suffer at the hands of white supremacy and xenophobia?

While the White House celebrates “Hispanic” Heritage month, they take little to no action in actually centering protection and dignity for immigrant communities in the US and migrant communities at the Southern border.

As shared by our national director Marisa Franco, the abuse of Haitian migrants must “awaken us to the reality of the Biden Admin’s posture towards immigrants. We are given excuses, we are told to wait, we are told our problems are best fixed in a Congress where few problems are fixed.”

For as long as the Biden Administration continues to turn away from its’ commitments to racial equity and justice, through allowing the inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants and preservation of the Trump-era ‘Title 42’ policy, we will keep demanding action and an end to the human rights abuses disproportionately targeting Black and Latinx immigrants.