Case Citation
Haitian Bridge All. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 2024 WL 476304 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2024)
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In September 2021, the U.S. government enclosed close to 20,000 people, the majority of them Haitian and other Black immigrants, in open-air pens under the scorching sun at the border with Mexico near the town of Del Rio, Texas. Trapped people, including small children, were cut off from sufficient food, water, and medical care, and became malnourished, dehydrated, and ill from exposure to the sun and dust. When people attempted to leave, they were assaulted by border patrol officers, who surrounded the pens with armored vehicles and militarized troops. In 2022, RFK Human Rights and the Haitian Bridge Alliance published Beyond the Bridge, a comprehensive report on U.S. government abuses of Black asylum seekers at Del Rio.
This lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act seeks answers as to why the government engaged in an extraordinary militarized response to asylum seeking families in Del Rio, the latest in a long history of violent anti-Haitian immigration policies.
Why is this a key case?
Records of militarized operations against Black asylum seekers can form the basis of grassroots campaigns for fair and equal treatment in the immigration system.
In the long term, grassroots groups can use the information and data released in lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act to build political power for the movement to end militarized violence against Black immigrants.
What is the Status of this case?
Pending before the district court, with ongoing document production.
How is RFK Human Rights supporting?
RFK Human Rights, co-counseling with Justice Action Center, Innovation Law Lab, and Williams & Connolly LLP, represents Haitian Bridge Alliance, African Communities Together, and UndocuBlack Network in their request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and litigation in federal district court to compel the government’s compliance with FOIA.
Name of the case (as it appears in the respective legal mechanism)
Haitian Bridge Alliance et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec. et al., No. 22-CV-8344 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2022)
Month/Year of filing
September 2022
Legal mechanism in which the case is being litigated
U.S. Federal District Court, Southern District of New York
Rights and legal instruments alleged violated (or found to have been violated)
Freedom of Information Act
Procedural stage
Pending
Counsel
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Justice Action Center, Innovation Law Lab, and Williams & Connolly LLP
February 7, 2024
District court order on partial summary judgement
August 11, 2023
Plaintiff’s memorandum of law in support of motion for partial summary judgment
September 30, 2022
District court complaint filed
October 1, 2021
Freedom of Information Act request filed