Montrealers denounce 'inhumane' treatment of Haitians at U.S.-Mexico border, urge Canada to act

Members of Montreal's Haitian community are denouncing the "inhumane" treatment of migrants from the impoverished Caribbean island at a makeshift camp at a U.S.-Mexico border.

In recent days, thousands of Haitians, including some travelling from as far as Brazil, Chile and Argentina, crossed the border in Del Rio, Texas.

Images that have gone viral show American border patrol agents on horseback using aggressive tactics to prevent the migrants from entering the U.S., such as hitting them with leather reins.

The border agents' actions have been condemned by human rights activists, as well as Daniel Foote, who resigned from his position as the U.S. special envoy to Haiti in protest.

On Saturday, Frantz André, a spokesperson for a group called Solidarité Solidarité Québec – Haïti was among the few dozen people who gathered at the U.S. Consulate in downtown Montreal to express their frustration and anger, while also calling on the U.S. government to suspend deportations to Haiti.

"I cannot believe that in 2021, the [people from the] first [Black] country who got their independence from slavery, were still being treated that way," André said.

"They're sending us back to slavery, and this is unacceptable."