Haitian Immigrant Bail Assistance Project

HIBAP assist Haitian immigrants in deportation and removal proceedings who cannot afford to pay bail/bond..

About

The Haitian Immigrant Bail Assistance Project (HIBAP) is an organization that was formed with the realization that there is a paucity of resources for Haitian immigrants in the United States. One of HIBAP’s goals is to raise awareness about Haitian immigrants’ experiences in the U.S. We hope to address the struggles of Haitian and Black Immigrants, who are also less represented and whose voices are often less heard in the field of immigrant advocacy work.

HIBAP works mainly to assist Haitian immigrants in deportation and removal proceedings. HIBAP helps those immigrants who cannot afford to pay bail/bond.

Our Mission

The Mission of HIBAP is to provide support and encouragement to immigrants fighting for their fundamental rights. HIBAP wants justice and fairness in the immigration system, so that immigrants facing deportation/removal and certain grounds for exclusion may have access to representation and a fair trial. HIBAP believes that justice has no borders, and that immigrants should be treated equally and fairly regardless of their citizenship status or lack thereof. It is our goal to see that no individual or particular group be denied [human] rights or be treated disparately because they hail from a particular country, ethnicity, and/or community.

Why We Care

Haitian Immigrants’ Rights To Due Process Has Always Been Violated

(See references below)

  • Paik, A. Naomi. “US turned away thousands of Haitian asylum-seekers and detained hundreds more in the 90s.” The Conversation (2018).
  • Swarns, Rachel L. “AFTEREFFECTS: IMMIGRANTS; Illegal Aliens Can Be Held Indefinitely, Ashcroft Says.” The New York Times (2003).

Attorney General John Ashcroft has ruled that illegal immigrants who have no known links to terrorist groups can be detained indefinitely to address national security concerns. Mr. Ashcroft was ruling in the case of a Haitian immigrant who had won the right to be released on bail while awaiting a decision on his asylum claim.

But the U.S. government classifies Haitians as “economic” not “political” refugees in order to justify deportation.

  •  As reported by BAJI and New York University Law School on the State of Black Immigrants.

    – Like African-Americans, Black immigrants experience disparate, often negative, outcomes within various social and economic structures in the U.S., including the country’s mass criminalization and immigration enforcement regimes.

    – Although Black immigrants comprise just 5.4% of the unauthorized population in the United States and 7.2% of the total noncitizen population, they made up a striking 10.6% of all immigrants in removal proceedings between 2003 and 2015.

    – More than one out of every five noncitizens facing deportation on criminal grounds before the Executive Office for Immigration Review is Black.

    – In FY 2013, more than three-quarters of Black immigrants were removed on criminal grounds, in contrast to less than half of immigrants overall.

    – Although African and Caribbean immigrants constituted only a small percentage of the immediately eligible population for DACA, the rates of application accepted and status approved for Black immigrants are lower when compared to all top 25 countries listed by USCIS. While using the numbers of the four African and Caribbean countries that have appeared on the top 25 list may not be the most accurate calculation, all other countries of origin whose nationals have submitted a DACA request but do not appear on the list only make up less than 4% of the total.
  •  Haitian Immigration.

    The treatment of Haitians represents a continuing bias in U.S. policy toward refugees, especially in contrast to the way their Cubans counterparts are handled. The Coast Guard has attempted to intercept boats before they left Haitian waters; a disproportionate number of undocumented Haitians who made it to U.S. shores were incarcerated; and requests for political asylum have been met with the highest rejection rate of any national group.
  •  Byrd, Brandon R. Racism has always driven U.S. policy toward Haiti. The Washington Post (2018).

    The motivations for the United States’ mistreatment of Haiti were obvious to Frederick Douglass. In 1893, the abolitionist and former U.S. diplomatic attache to the country, pointed out that the sole “reason for coolness” between the United States and Haiti: “Haiti is black, and we have not yet forgiven Haiti for being black.”
  • Johnson, Kevin R. Race, The Immigration Laws, And Domestic Race Relations: a “Magic Mirror” into the Heart of Darkness, 73 Indiana Law Journal 1111-1159, 1112-1148 (Fall, 1998)(294). [Except].

    The harsh treatment of noncitizens of color reveals terrifying lessons about how society views citizens of color.
  • Smith, Marian L. Race, Nationality, and Reality: INS Administration of Racial Provisions in U.S. Immigration and Nationality Law Since 1898. Prologue Magazine. Summer 2002, Vol. 34, No. 2.

    The history of U.S. immigration and nationality law demonstrates how race became a factor in determining who could come to America and who could not.
  • Blumenfeld, Warren J. Immigration Laws as Official ‘Racial’ Policy. The Huffington Post 2014.

    If we learn anything from our immigration legislative history, we can view the current debates as providing a great opportunity to pass comprehensive federal reform based not on “race,” nationality, ethnicity, religion, or other social identity categories, but rather, on humane principles of fairness, compassion, and equity.

Your Impact

Your Generosity gives hope to women and men who have been deprived of their fundamental rights. Your donation provides bond/bail payments to those Haitian immigrants sitting in detention in a state of isolation and ignorance while facing some of the worst inhumane conditions.

What we see happening are detained Haitians spending months to years in detention -many times no one even knows they are there. During those periods, they are subjected to physical, mental, and emotional abuses. In addition to those already existing practices of indefinite detention for Haitian immigrants,  Haitians in detention get deported without a fair opportunity to petition their case.

The experiences of Haitian immigrants in immigration detention are truly heartbreaking. With your generous support we can help give them a voice.

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