 Haiti is in a state of crisis. They just experienced another catastrophic earthquake this time It was 7.2 magnitude the last earthquake that they experienced was in 2010 and many Haitians still haven't fully recovered from that disaster Many had to flee the country But on top of that they are experiencing political instability and political violence due to the assassination of their president So many people have either lost everything or they no longer feel safe in Haiti because of all of the violence and Thousands have chosen to flee the country and many have come to the United States They arrived in Mexico and then they crossed the border and there's about 14 to 15,000 Currently camped under a bridge in a Texan border town and what they're hoping for is to be able to make their case for Asylum many have been here for days and many are starving and they're hoping for a chance at a new life But before I get into the specifics here I just want to give you a broad sense of what's happening. This is an on-the-ground report That gives us some additional context, but keep in mind by the time you see this video the numbers and details May have already changed, but nonetheless. Here's a general overview of basically what's happening on the ground right now I can tell you this is a very dynamic situation that has changed drastically over the last to 48 hours If you ask a border patrol, they will tell you that some of this may stem back to that 2010 earthquake in Haiti which sent many people immigrating to South America and then following the 2016 Rio Olympics where many of those folks worked they then started that long process north But as what's happening right here right now the only border crossing into Mexico in Del Rio remains closed down and it is a 24-7 mission we're just on the side of the border fence and we are seeing agency after agency drive through this gate Manned by the National Guard you see border patrol trucks. You see customs vehicles here This is just part of the massive response. We've seen from authorities here in response to a group that Essentially tripled in size in just a matter of days go back to last Wednesday the group beneath that bridge about 5,000 strong at last check over the weekend 15,000 people were essentially calling the shade of this border bridge home the goal right now trying to process Every single one of those people some of those bus to nearby processing facilities that are not overwhelmed others being Flowing on what they're calling lateral flights to do that same thing And then we've already confirmed over the weekend that those first deportation flights have already begun Three of which took off from San Antonio to Port-au-Prince Haiti But there are still so many people that whole group that flew back about 300 staff We still have at least 10,000 Haitian migrants beneath this bridge. We were granted exclusive access yesterday had a chance to speak to one woman She said she had been under that bridge for eight days had barely eaten a thing We had seen food and water handouts there set up by the border patrol But I mean the supplies cannot come fast enough right now to try to take care of these people Just minutes before we spoke to you there was an ambulance here outside that a woman from a border patrol vehicle Was transferred into and taken away and unfortunately that has been an all-too-common sight here So this is very obviously a huge humanitarian crisis These people are starving these people are desperate and all they want is to be able to make their case for asylum So of course, you know the very compassionate Biden administration is Greeting them with a welcoming message and is telling them listen We're trying to process your cases as quickly as possible. That's that's what's happening, right? And so the Biden administration is currently trying to direct resources to this area to feed and process all of these asylum seekers Right. No, of course not. That's not what's happening. In fact, the message is the opposite And I think you probably predicted that and you probably knew that I was being facetious Because the DHS secretary sent a very clear message get out. We don't want you here If you come to the United States illegally you will be returned Your journey will not succeed and you will be endangering your life and your family's lives This administration is committed to developing safe Orderly and humane pathways for migration, but this is not the way to do it Okay, so nobody else should come got it But that doesn't change the fact that 14 to 15,000 people are already here and they're currently under a bridge And I would argue that the overwhelming majority have a very compelling case For why they should be granted asylum. So what do you do? What do you do to mitigate their suffering? Well, of course, if you're the United States, you do the most American thing ever you Launch a mass expulsion campaign to send them all back to Haiti as quickly as possible And according to AP this could be one of America's swiftest large-scale Expulsions of migrants or refugees in decades. Yeah, so how do you how do you do this? If you aren't going to allow them to make their case or not allow most of them to make their case for asylum How do you do something like this? Like how do you pull this off in a humane way and the answer is you don't you heard these people into planes Back to Haiti as if they're animals and if need be you literally whip them That's what we're doing. That's quite literally what's what's taking place in the Rio Grande currently U.S. Border Patrol agents on horses are trying to herd Haitians drive them out back into Mexico or onto planes and they're literally physically abusing them with whips vice-news is Emily Green Describes the scene border patrol officers on horseback swinging whips in the faces of Haitians Families with toddlers scrambling across the Rio Grande back into Mexico to avoid being deported Haitian parents crying as they faced the prospect of being deported home to a social and political crisis that seems to see no end Those were among the scenes in the town of Del Rio, Texas Over the weekend as the US government took a hard line stance against thousands of newly arrived Haitian migrants seeking protection The situation is becoming a public relations and humanitarian challenge for US President Joe Biden's administration as images of Border patrol agents on horseback screaming at and chasing desperate Haitians reverberated across the internet quote This is why your country's shit because you use your women for this one officer on horseback shouted at a group of Haitian women Who were crossing the Rio Grande with bags of food showed one report by Al Jazeera the situation along the southwest Texas border at The entrance to Del Rio is becoming a bigger problem by the day for President Biden Who is trying to assert control over the international line while fulfilling his promise to take a more humanitarian approach Immigration well you've already failed miserably on that regard Joe So I mean I don't understand why you even maintain this facade that you're more compassionate than your predecessor when we see scenes of Haitian migrants who are desperately seeking asylum getting whipped by border patrol agents on your watch I mean why even pretend you've already gone full mask off so stop pretending as if you care The truth is the United States government does not care. We don't even care about our own people We're letting thousands of people every single year die due to a lack of basic access to health care due to Housing so of course we don't care about these immigrants. In fact, we don't even acknowledge that they're human beings We treat them like animals quite literally So it's just truly disgusting and to make matters worse as Biden tries to claim or present himself as a moral Compassionate like and moral president He's literally using a rule created by the Trump administration to expel immigrants in a very quick manner So as Julia Conley of common dreams explains the Biden administration launched the deportations of the migrants under title 42 A section of the public health safety act which former president Donald Trump invoked during the pandemic to quickly expel asylum seekers From the country president Joe Biden has drawn international condemnation for continuing the policy Yeah, and I just want to remind you that this is taking place under a democratic administration Joe Biden's administration is literally using a trump era rule to expel these migrants as quickly as possible And you can't expel a large group of people in a compassionate and humane way if you want to do it quickly I mean, it's not a humanitarian thing to do period if they're literally seeking asylum I think that they should be able to make their case But to do this rapidly, of course, there's going to be human rights abuses And so a lot of you are going to see the images which are absolutely disturbing of Haitian migrants being whipped by US border patrol agents on horses And that's gross But even if they weren't whipped by border patrol agents or harassed and assaulted by them They're still being treated like criminals. So so rather than being treated as if they're seeking asylum You know, we should treat asylum seekers with respect and dignity and and respond to their needs But that's not happening. They're reporting that they're being handcuffed and some of them are being lied to So they're saying hey get on this plane We'll take you to florida and rather than going to florida in hopes that their case will be processed at a facility there They're getting deported back to Haiti and Haiti is calling on a humanitarian moratorium on these deportations because they're saying, listen We're in crisis mode currently We can't take in thousands of deportees when we're dealing with the crisis from the assassination of our president with the earthquake What are we supposed to do with thousands of people who are coming back to this country? Perhaps worse off than they were when they left there's no homes for them Like what do you want us to do? So rather than doing the humane thing and at least temporarily halting these deportations The united states government at this point is not doing that and they're making Haiti's crisis even worse I mean, it's not like we don't have the resources to assist them here This isn't that many people in the grand scheme of things at a minimum Perhaps at least try to hear out their claims for asylum because I think that most of them If not all of them will be compelling But I mean if you're wondering what do we do when it comes to these sort sorts of crises There's never an easy answer by now with how old our country is with how many times this has happened and will continue to happen In the in the future especially with the progenic climate change You know, we should have some sort of a system in place But whenever this happens whenever we see a large influx of migrants We immediately freak out and if there's a republican in power Then that republican president is going to be as cruel as possible And if there is a democratic administration in power when this happens That administration is also going to be as cruel as possible worrying that you know, if he's not actually Harsh enough it expelling these immigrants that you know, the insane xenophobic republicans are going to freak out and claim that he's too weak It's just it's so Disgusting so, you know when it comes to the question of what do we do? Why don't we just start by like not treating them literally like animals and whipping them? That's like a really really basic thing to start with maybe don't whip them Maybe acknowledge that like us they're human beings with desires with fears with ambitions And maybe not whipping them is a really great place to start. I don't know. Maybe maybe i'm crazy, right? Now, thankfully lawmakers have spoken out. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ilhan Omar They all have condemned the whipping here because these are scenes that we shouldn't be seeing From a so-called compassionate administration. We shouldn't be seeing this but we are and that isn't necessarily that surprising Because the only thing really that has changed with regard to our stance on immigration is the rhetoric Joe Biden doesn't go out of his way to fear monger about immigrants But he still treats them like garbage He still doesn't acknowledge their basic humanity doesn't care at all is totally unmoved by their claims of asylum Which when you see all the things happening in Haiti currently Why can't we hear out their cases? So it's just you know over and over again we see this And this situation is only going to continue to get worse as we start seeing the issue of climate refugees pop up So, um, you know if you're disturbed by seeing these images then That's good. Don't try to run away from these images Acknowledge that this is taking place under a democratic administration And use this anger that you're feeling when you see these images To fight for a better world for fight to fight for actually a humane response To migrants, especially ones that are seeking asylum, which is a human right by the way