During an already record-breaking year for illegal immigration coinciding with an understaffed and exhausted U.S. Customs and Border Protection — or Border Patrol — Rep. Ilhan Omar had the chutzpah to criticize officials for their “inhumane” and “shameful” response to a caravan of Haitians who recently showed up in the United States.
Last week around 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants crossed the Rio Grande and temporarily camped under an overpass in Del Rio, Texas, with 10,000 more reportedly on the way. The surge has most certainly overwhelmed the Border Patrol, which has been struggling all year to deal with high numbers of migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Although Border Patrol does not have adequate staffing and resources to properly handle current illegal immigration levels, let alone a caravan of many thousands of people at once, that hasn’t stopped Rep. Omar from denouncing Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over their treatment of the Haitians.
When news of the migrant surge broke on Sept. 16, Omar tweeted that it needed “an urgent response from the Biden administration that is comprehensive and includes a cross-agency collaboration.”
“These developments are heartbreaking and the lack of urgency to assist is alarming. Most of these Haitian migrants have already been through a lot before they even made the dangerous journey to our border,” she said.
The next day, she lectured Sen. Tom Cotton on how “asylum is an international right,” after the Arkansas senator implied that this latest migrant crisis only happened because of the Biden administration’s weakness on the border.
“Clearly, you’re ignorant of world affairs,” she told Cotton. “Luckily this admin doesn’t share your xenophobic & hateful ideas.”
In response to a video showing Border Patrol officials on horseback attempting to chase away Haitian migrants, Omar claimed they were committing “human rights abuses” and violating “domestic and international law.”
“This needs a course correction and the issuance of a clear directive on how to humanely process asylum seekers at our border,” Omar said.
Reuters later reported that the Haitians in the video had crossed back into Mexico to buy food and then tried to return to their encampment in Del Rio.
Then when ICE stepped in to start deporting some of the Haitians back to their homeland, Omar called the effort “completely inhumane.”
“Haitians are experiencing crisis after crisis and deserve compassion,” she tweeted. “Instead of stepping up deportation, we should be halting it. It’s shameful that from administration to administration our cruel immigration policies remain.”
As many Minnesotans know, Omar herself hails from Somalia, having arrived in the U.S. with her family at age 12. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen when she was 17 and is notoriously progressive on immigration, race, and just about every other political issue.
Evan Stambaugh
Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.
