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In a recent episode of The Real, co-host Garcelle Beauvais addressed viewers to bring awareness to what’s happening to Haitian migrants at the Mexico-Texas border.
“I am beyond emotional today,” the actress and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star said during the Sept. 22 episode. “My heart is breaking as I see the shocking images from Texas where immigrants from my homeland of Haiti are being treated so inhumanely.”
As Beauvais explained, Haitian migrants fleeing political unrest, natural disasters and the country’s rise in unemployment, have been traveling from their homeland and other Central American countries to the Texas border to seek asylum. In viral photos and videos from last week taken at the border in Del Rio, Texas, patrol agents on horseback attempted to detain some of the over 15,000 asylum seekers in a manner deemed as “horrific” by many.
“The images are provoking outrage and some are asking, ‘Is this the United States of America that we know?'” Beauvais said on The Real. While speaking to her fellow co-hosts, the star additionally shared that in an Instagram Story from earlier that day, she expressed feeling “outraged” and “angry” by what she saw happening at the border.
As the 56-year-old held back tears, she continued:
“And to see my people being treated this way… they are fleeing because of the conditions in Haiti, because of the earthquakes, because of the disasters, because of the political unrest, and this is how they are being treated. They are being treated like they are criminals. They’re being treated… I feel like I’m watching a slave movie.”
“These patrol officers are on horseback and they are whipping people, innocent people who just want to be treated fairly and get food. We can’t seem to get a break and it breaks my heart and I am ashamed that this is how Americans are treating other immigrants,” Beauvais said.
“I came as an immigrant. I didn’t speak a word of English, my mom brought us here for a better life, and we work so hard when we’re immigrants,” the RHOBH star expressed. “This is not okay, it’s not okay, and I am just — it’s breaking my heart.”
Initially, reports stated that the border patrol agents were “whipping” the migrants. One of the photographers whose coverage went viral told KTSM that his image was “misconstrued,” and he and his colleagues didn’t witness Haitian migrants being whipped.
The Hill detailed that the border patrol agents were actually wielding “bridle reins, which riders use to help direct their horses.”
See The Real ladies discuss the deplorable treatment Haitian migrants have been facing in Del Rio, Texas, down below.
To get more information and to help Haitian asylum seekers, find a list of resources here.
