Schumer: Deportation of Haitian asylum-seekers "defies common sense"
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives for a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol, Sept.20. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday condemned the Biden administration's deportation of Haitian immigrants, saying the move "defies common sense."
The big picture: The U.S. is deporting the immigrants under the Trump-era Title 42 policy that Schumer called "hateful and xenophobic." The government has used Title 42 to accelerate deportations during the pandemic.
- The U.S. on Sunday began deportation flights for more than 10,000 immigrants seeking shelter in the Texas border town of Del Rio.
- The thousands of immigrants and asylum-seekers have been temporarily staying in a crowded camp under the bridge that connects Texas and Mexico after crossing the southern border.
Driving the news: "I urge President Biden and [Homeland Security] Secretary Mayorkas to immediately put a stop to these expulsions and to end this Title 42 policy at our southern border," Schumer said on the Senate floor.
- "I'm told there are four flights scheduled to deport these asylum-seekers back to a country that cannot receive them. Such a decision defies common sense. It also defies common decency and what America is all about," Schumer said.
Go deeper: Photos show Border Patrol whipping at migrants from horseback