The Quixote Center launched InAlienable in 2018 to demand justice for migrants at the US border, within the United States and throughout their journey. We work to end immigrant detention, and defend the right to asylum, which has been eroded over the last several years. We also partner with organizations who work with migrants in the United States and in Latin America.
Find out more about our Solidarity Travel Program HERE.
The Quixote Center’s principal international partnership is with the Franciscan Network on Migration. The Franciscan Network on Migration is an effort to connect shelters run by Franciscan orders which provide assistance to migrants who are traveling through Mexico, Central and South America. We serve as the fiscal sponsor for the Franciscan Network on Migration within the United States, and coordinate advocacy efforts with their staff.
See where the Franciscan Network on Migration works here.
You can donate to support the work of the Francsican Network here.
In 2022 we launched a solidarity travel program that brings advocates from the United States to visit and work with shelters in southern Mexico. These trips take place every six months. Find out more HERE.
Deportation flights are a big business. Typically these flights are managed by ICE Air Operations - yes, ICE has its own airline. The chain of responsibility runs like this: Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is the entity responsible for deporting people. ERO oversees ICE Air Operations.
Between September 19 and October 5, the Biden administration expelled over 7,200 people to Haiti on 67 flights. Between February 1 and September 15, the Biden administration deported 2,140 people on 37 flights.
So, since taking office Biden has expelled 9,300 people to Haiti on 94 flights. Three-fourths of those expulsions have happened over the last two weeks. The Biden administration has also repatriated 400 people interdicted at sea.
Between Sunday, September 19 Thursday, September 30, the Biden administration sent at least 57 deportation flights to Haiti. That represents more than 6,000 people expelled in less than two weeks. For some perspective, over the previous 11 months, the United States had sent 37 deportation flights to Haiti. With the fiscal year ending September 30th, flights to Haiti from the United States will come to 95, making Haiti the country with the most removal flights this year other than Mexico.
“The racism against people and families from Haiti – for those who have been victims of violence, trauma and family separation – is institutional.”
This week has been a roller coaster. As of Friday there have been at least 21 deportation flights to Haiti this week as the Biden administration tries to clear out thousands of people who have been stuck at the Del Rio port of entry after crossing into Texas - most from Haiti. As a frame of reference, through the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, there were a total of 37 flights to Haiti. As Biden has doubled down on Title 42 expulsions, the vast majority of people processed will simply be expelled without an opportunity to seek asylum.
The Quixote Center joins with other human rights and faith-based organizations in unequivocally condemning the Biden administration’s decision to begin the mass expulsion of Haitian refugees who have been detained in Del Rio, Texas.
“The disaster unfolding in Del Rio is the direct result of the Biden administration’s decision to keep Title 42 enforcement in place. By continuing this Trump policy of denying people access to asylum at the border under the guise of public health, Biden has left them no place to go,” says Quixote Center program director, Tom Ricker.
Somewhere in this country, Stephen Miller is probably sitting in a grimy basement watching television reports of the debacle unfolding under the Del Rio bridge. Fingers twitching in imitation of the Simpsons’ Mr. Burns, he grins and cackles and gives himself high fives. As Trump’s immigration adviser, Miller handed Biden a time-bomb, and it is now blowing up. I assume Miller is enjoying this.
We live in a global society of spectacle. Capitalism in its latest stage is fueled by the production of the imaginary. Business, activism, and politics are all played out in virtual spaces, while the world we physically live in becomes experienced primarily in reference to images; the more spectacular, the more entertaining, or the more shocking, the more engaged we become.
[caption id="attachment_9725" align="aligncenter" width="1494"]
Screenshot of iAero Flight 3540, San Antonio to Port au Prince, September 15[/caption]
There has been a notable increase in migration from Nicaragua toward the United States in recent months.
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Image: Red Franciscana de Migrantes[/caption]
English Translation (en Español abajo)
To the Mexican Authorities
To the National Human Rights Commission
To Franciscans International
To all people of good faith
