Marinise Sinais Cedieu keeps replaying in her head what happened to her in Del Rio, Texas: being handcuffed in front of her 3-year-old son, the screams of another man whose handcuffs were too tight, going a week without a hot meal.

Cedieu, a Haitian mother of two, came to the border hoping to pursue a better life for her family in the United States after first moving to Chile in 2016. Instead, she found herself camped out in frightful conditions for five days, hoping to be granted entry.

On Sept. 21, U.S. Border Patrol agents forcibly removed Cedieu, her husband, and her son and swiftly deported them back to Haiti, a country she had not seen in five years where political instability, violence and the coronavirus pandemic have upended life.

Cedieu is one of the 7,000 Haitian migrants and asylum-seekers the Biden administration has recently deported back to Haiti under Title 42, a Trump-era order that allows immigration officials to quickly deport people crossing the border under the pretense of pandemic health concerns, typically without giving them a chance to apply for asylum.

Continued use of the policy has outraged lawmakers and immigration advocates, who have called on President Joe Biden to halt deportations and repeal Title 42, a policy they call cruel and inhumane. While many Haitians were initially hopeful that the Biden administration would follow through on immigration reforms and grant opportunities to those most vulnerable, many immigrants find themselves in even direr situations than before.

Its just disappointing how arbitrary this U.S. practice has been about who to deport, who not to deport, said Nicole Phillips, the legal director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, an immigration nonprofit advocacy group. [The administration] is assuming that theres a choice, that Haitian migrants are choosing to come to the U.S.Mexico border. But in my experience in speaking with Haitian migrants, their primary concern is to be in a politically stable and secure environment, after the trauma of living in Haiti.

One Disaster After Another

In Haiti, Cedieu was struggling financially and couldnt find sustainable work to provide for her two children.

Since then, the situation in the Caribbean nation has only gotten worse.

In July, Haitis president was assassinated following months of political unrest and instability that have only intensified. In August, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern part of the country, killing more than 2,000, injuring 12,000, and leaving more than 650,000 people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. At least 59% of Haitis population lives under the poverty line, while 24% live in extreme poverty and the wealth disparities are only expected to rise due to countrys the high levels of inequality and slow economic growth.

Considered one of the most unequal countries in the region, Haitis lack of public services, including access to health care, clean water and education, is a direct consequence of the countrys fragile public institutions and governance, which are rooted in a legacy of colonialism and authoritarianism . Haiti is also one of the few countries in the world that has yet to administer a vaccine against COVID-19, and the pandemic has taken a major toll.

The Americas region needs to come together and not just push off Haitians onto somebody else, said Phillip. They need to come together and figure out solutions so that Haitians are welcomed as asylum seekers, as refugees who are unable to return to their country.

Anti-Blackness In The Americas

Many Haitian migrants have sought refuge in South America searching for work and lax border restrictions. Chile hosts one of the worlds largest Haitian diasporas, according to the Los Angeles Times , since many Haitians migrated to the Andean nation in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. In 2012, fewer than 2,000 Haitians resided in Chile; by 2020, the number had grown to 182,000.

Cedieu and her husband were able to get by in Chile and even had their second child there. But they described tough conditions, and they had to leave Cedieus eldest son behind in Haiti with family because they could not get him a passport.

Phillips has interviewed dozens of Haitian migrants stuck in Mexico over the past weeks, and many told her theyd faced racism and xenophobia in South America that drove them north. Her clients said they were not being paid proper wages and had received little to no support when they sought help from law enforcement. One Haitian father told Phillips his daughter was being targeted for sexual assault. Another woman said she had been turned away from a hospital when she was in labor.

While in Chile, Cedieu and her husband heard about several family members who had successfully migrated to the United States. With former President Donald Trump, who had scapegoated immigrants and referred to Haiti and other nations as shithole countries , a record number of Haitian migrants and asylum-seekers presumed the Biden administration would welcome them with open arms.