On this week’s episode of theGrio’s “The Hill with April Ryan,” U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., lays out why it’s America’s moral responsibility to help the people of Haiti amid unrest there, and she addresses how stabilizing the Caribbean nation is in the best interests of the United States. Pressley, the co-founder and co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, said America’s Black and brown migrants are disproportionately impacted by America’s “broken” system. The congresswoman, who said her district contains the third-largest Haitian population in the nation, said Black Americans owe “so much” to the people of Haiti, particularly for their role in modeling “Black resistance, independence and liberation.”
“They have experienced so many injustices rooted in colonialism and unjust foreign policy,” she told theGrio. Pressley said the influx of Haitians seeking asylum at the U.S. border is a result of years-long destabilization. But in order to address the concerns of asylum seekers in the U.S., the federal government must stabilize Haiti by halting all deportations and providing economic assistance and political infrastructure.