Washington, February 22 RHC)-- A court in Washington, D.C., is hearing arguments in a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of racial discrimination and rights violations of Haitian asylum seekers. 

The suit was brought by the Haitian Bridge Alliance in 2021 on behalf of 11 Haitian asylum seekers, who described being abused by U.S. border agents as more than 15,000 people, mostly from Haiti, were forced to stay in a makeshift border encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuña-Del Rio International Bridge in Texas. 

One of the plaintiffs is Mirard Joseph, who was photographed as a Border Patrol agent on horseback lashed him with split reins, grabbed his neck and gripped Joseph by the shirt collar.  After the assault, Joseph and his family were detained and deported to Haiti.