Haitian migrants abused at US-Mexico border to sue Biden administration over mistreatment

A group of 10 Haitian migrants on Sunday stated that they will sue the United States government after immigration officials violated their "rights to seek a safer life" in the US. The group was among the thousands who lived in tents under the Del Rio International Bridge on the southern US border in Texas during the sweltering summers.

Calling out US President Joe Biden's administration for failing to take responsibility for the harrowing abuses upon Haitians accumulated at the border, migrant Jacques revealed that the US Customs and Border Protection agents barely provided asylum seekers with basic necessities like food, water or medical treatment.

"When I was under the bridge, it was a very difficult thing to see how people were living," Jacques told The World.

The 25-year-old Jacques is among the 10 who are suing the US government after he was deported to Haiti. He and many others like him were flown back to Mexico or Haiti after spending days under the bridge and being processed at two different immigration detention centers.

"We asked officers where were we going and he said we wouldn't be deported. And once on the airplane, the agents never told us we were going," Jacques, who is currently in Haiti, recalled.

Now, Jacques, who lives in hiding is still facing death threats from the gangs that wanted to recruit him. Speaking to The World, he said that the lawsuit is the only chance for a better life, if it turns in his favour.

Haitian migrants sue Biden administration over multiple allegations of abuse and mistreatment

Last week, a group of migrants who crossed into Texas in September after experiencing weeks of abuse and mistreatment, filed a lawsuit against the US government. The plaintiffs included Mirard Joseph, a Haitian migrant who was heckled by a Border Protection agent.

The victim remembered the instance as the "most humiliating experience" in his life, according to ABC News reported. A photo of Joseph was widely circulated, in which he was seen being aggressively "lashed" by an agent on horseback. He was later dragged back to Rio Grande, the river that separates Mexico from the US, he said.

As per ABC News, the lawsuit accused the Biden administration of deliberately avoiding adequate humanitarian support to the areas, a step to deter migrants from crossing into the US. As per US media, nearly 13,000 migrants are under the international bridge that connects Del Rio in Texas to Cuidad Acuna in Mexico. Several images and videos of migrants living in deplorable conditions in overcrowded tents surfaced on social media as the US engaged in deportations to Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

(Image: AP)