By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, MIAMI, FL, Weds. Oct. 20, 2021: US Vice President, Caribbean American Kamala Harris, was handed the title of immigration czar by President Biden. But Harris’ seeming nonchalant responses and actions on the hot button issue had activists wondering where in the world she is and demanding action Monday in Miami.
The daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India has not said a word on immigration since she delivered a delayed response to border agents on horseback chasing Haitian immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in August.
She has moved on this week to other issues like climate change and unions, but protesters in Miami had a loud and clear message for Harris Monday.
Many locked themselves together as they blocked the entrance to Port Miami to send a message to the vice president to add a path to citizenship in the Build Back Better plan and stop deporting Haitians.
The protesters carried a huge banner with Harris’ picture on it and a message that stated: “Deliver Citizenship For Millions.”
Photos from Getty showed nearly a dozen protesters laying in the roadway with officers blocking the street from traffic. Protesters were specifically demanding action from the Biden administration, to release all Haitian migrants who have been detained and to stop deporting Haitian immigrants.
“They are deporting men, women and children — even toddlers — to a nation in turmoil,” one protester said.
The protest against Harris comes as criticism grows over the Biden administration’s handling of immigration since taking office and about a year after Harris campaigned in Florida for the Haitian and Caribbean immigrant vote.
At the time, last October, she noted that Caribbean American voters in Florida can help bring home the win for the Democratic ticket.
Recognizing that immigration is a critical concern to Caribbean immigrants at the time, Harris had said she and Democratic Presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, will reinstate DACA for Dreamers, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program put in place by President Barack Obama but ended by Donald Trump; and create a pathway towards citizenship.
“Donald Trump has been horrendous. Look at the policy which has been about putting babies in cages and separating children from their parents at the border. He also broke his promise to the DREAMers, some of whom come from Caribbean countries,” she said.
That promise is yet to be delivered as Harris and the administration has kept most of Trump’s immigration policies in place, including Title 42, ramped up deportations and detentions and moved from cages to horse whips being used to scare off black immigrants from US soil.
