In response to an unprecedented wave of immigrants from Haiti looking to get into the US, the Obama administration announced yesterday that it intends to resume the deportation of undocumented immigrants from the island nation. Deportations were suspended by the US in 2010, after areas of Haiti were devastated by an earthquake, as sending immigrants back would have endangered lives.
Deportations were partly resumed by officials in 2011, with the focus on those individuals believed to be national security threats or who had been convicted of serious criminal offences. Since last spring, thousands of immigrants from Haiti have been streaming north from Brazil, where they had moved to look for work and ending up at border crossings to Southern California.
Few immigrants have been in possession of US visas, but because of the modified deportation policies, immigration officials had no choice but to allow almost all to enter the US. Officials have been prohibited from making use of the fast-track removal process often utilized at the border for new arrivals of undocumented immigrants.
Instead, the immigrants went through a slower deportation process and then let go, scheduled for an immigration court appearance at a later time. Most have since received permission to stay for at least three years via a humanitarian parole position, according to advocates. Now, Haitian undocumented immigrants apprehended at the border will be placed into expedited removal proceedings.