Human rights advocates are urging the Biden administration to cease deportations to Mauritania, an African nation in which slavery continues to be prevalent, according to them.
More than 100 groups sent a letter on Wednesday to President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, requesting an immediate halt to deportation flights to Mauritania, the safe return of Mauritanians who were “wrongly deported,” and the implementation of measures to protect other Mauritanians from deportation.
“Due to the prevalence of horrific race and ethnicity-based human rights violations in Mauritania, including enslavement, forced statelessness, and ethnic cleansing, there has long been a bipartisan agreement not to deport Mauritanians from the US,” wrote the advocates, led by the UndocuBlack Network, an advocacy group consisting of currently and formerly undocumented Black immigrants.
“As advocates for immigrants’ rights and human rights, we find the recent increase in the detention and deportation of Mauritanian asylum seekers deeply concerning. The recent deportation of eight asylum seekers, some of whom narrowly escaped slavery, is unacceptable.”
Despite there being only around 8,000 Mauritanians residing in the United States, the human rights community is particularly sensitive to their situation due to Mauritania’s history of ongoing slavery.
Historically ruled by an Arab minority with cultural ties to Saharan nations like Algeria, Mauritania has other ethnic groups in the south that have stronger connections to West African countries like Senegal.
Slavery in Mauritania primarily follows ethnic lines, with certain ethnicities of Black Mauritanians being targeted for this practice.
Although the country officially abolished slavery in 1981 and implemented laws criminalizing the practice in 2007 and 2015, according to human rights observers, slavery is still prevalent.
“Mauritania has a long history of deeply ingrained racial discrimination and systemic human rights abuses, especially against its Black population,” stated the advocates.
“When Mauritanians are deported from the United States, they face imminent danger and harm upon arrival. Deported individuals have reported being arrested and imprisoned upon arrival in Mauritania. They are also at risk of being enslaved.”
The Mauritanian government asserts that it has taken significant steps to eradicated slavery, which has become a central issue in the country’s politics.
In a January email to The Hill, Mauritanian Human Rights Commissioner Cheikh Ahmedou Ould Sidi claimed that the country had been recognized as a “reference model in the fight against slavery” by its neighbors in the Sahel region in 2022.
However, advocates argue that between 90,000 and 680,000 individuals remain enslaved in Mauritania.
According to them, the best way to prevent the United States from indirectly contributing to slavery and other human rights violations is to avoid deportations to Mauritania altogether.
“Despite international disapproval and efforts to address these concerns, Black Mauritanians continue to endure significant hardships and injustices. Mauritanian authorities persistently restrict freedom of expression and assembly, particularly when Black activists protest against racism and ethnic discrimination,” declared the advocates.
In addition to a ban on deportations, advocacy groups have long called for the Biden administration to grant Mauritania Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which would provide temporary relief from deportation for nearly all Mauritanians in the United States.
The groups also denounced alleged human rights violations against Mauritanians within the US immigration system.
These allegations include a lack of access to language services during detention, deportation, and asylum proceedings, as well as disparate treatment of Mauritanian asylum seekers.
“Advocates have also expressed concerns about the detention of over one hundred Mauritanian asylum seekers in a separate section of the Adelanto detention facility, isolated from other detainees,” they wrote, referring to the facility in California.
“These discriminatory and anti-Black practices negatively impact the well-being of asylum seekers navigating a foreign and intimidating environment after escaping slavery and other traumatic conditions.”
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on this story.
The issue of Mauritanian deportations has gained traction in political circles. Vice President Harris, during her time as California’s junior senator, called on the Trump administration to bolster protections for Mauritanians.
In January, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) joined forces with Representative Mike Carey (R-Ohio) to request the designation of Mauritania for TPS from the Biden administration. Approximately 3,000 of the 8,000 Mauritanians in the United States have settled in Ohio.
As of now, the Biden administration has not publicly addressed the issue, and deportations to Mauritania persist despite ongoing pleas from advocates.
A strong condemnation of human rights conditions in Mauritania by the United States could jeopardize the country’s relative stability in a volatile region.
President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who is up for reelection in 2024, came to power in 2019, marking Mauritania’s first peaceful transfer of power since gaining independence. Ghazouani’s party emerged victorious in parliamentary elections held in May, according to Radio France Internationale.
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