HOUSTON — Houston faith leaders and elected officials called on the federal government to stop deportations of Haitian migrants and investigate the actions of U.S. Border Patrol agents, along with the agency’s policies.
Bishop James Dixon, President of the Houston NAACP, said the group planned to send a letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
“We’ve got to get to a point to where all lives do matter the same,” Dixon said. “We have never seen any group of people treated this way inhumanely on American soil as migrants.”
A staffer for Congressman Al Green, who was in Washington, D.C., told reporters the Houston Democrat will file a resolution condemning the actions of Border Patrol agents on horseback trying to control migrants.
The Department of Homeland Security said the agency has stopped using horse patrol in Del Rio following that controversy.
The group held the press conference inside a temporary transitional shelter in North Harris County for migrants from Del Rio, mostly Haitians, who have been processed by Border Patrol and allowed to stay in the U.S. while their asylum cases are reviewed.
About 1,200 migrants have passed through so far, with around 2,000 expected by the end of the week.
“It’s a paradise for them,” said Carlos Villarreal, Volunteer Coordinator with the National Association of Christian Churches, which is running the shelter. “They come in with tears of joy.”
Villarreal said the shelter tests everyone who arrives for COVID-19 and quarantines any positive cases.
“Yesterday, out of the few hundred that arrived, by 5:00, 6:00, maybe one had tested positive,” Villarreal said.
Next, case volunteers go over travel plans with migrants and reach out to family member or friend for bus or airfare.
“Once that is either done or being done, we then offer them a hot meal, hygiene products, new underclothing, showers,” Villarreal said. “For those that do happen to spend the night, we have sleeping arrangements.”
Villarreal said most migrants move on to their final destination within 24 hours. Shuttles take them to the airport or bus station.
Most are heading to the southern or eastern U.S., with Florida the most common destination.
That’s where Haitian Jacky Chery came from to volunteer.
“We are a great people, we are a welcoming people, we are a hardworking people,” said Chery, noting that Haiti has helped the U.S. during the past. “Please help. We need all the help. We are your friends, not your enemies.”