Guerline Jozef:
Ivette, migrants from Haiti and other Black migrants from Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Cameroon have been at the U.S.-Mexico border since 2015. But the reality is the stories, the narratives are unheard of. And that is why the Haitian Bridge Alliance continues to push for highlighting the narrative of Black migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. So that is why the Haitian Bridge Alliance started just as a response to the need of the people at the U.S.- Mexico border.
So people can understand that immigration is a Black issue, immigration is a racial justice issue, and making sure that those people who have been stuck at the U.S.-Mexico border who are not from Central America, who might be from the Caribbean and Africa, and other countries, their stories are not lost in the narrative, in the big picture.
We started the first Black immigrants bail fund because one thing people might not know, when people get into immigration detention centers, most of the time they have to pay in order for them to get released. They would be charged anywhere between $20,000 – $50,000 in order for them to be released. Now, keep in mind, somebody who just escaped extreme violence, made a journey that they almost died on the way. The first thing that we do as a country is imprison them and charge them $50,000. We are focusing on Black immigrants because their stories are unheard, their narratives are forgotten, and their realities erased.
