U.S. sends first batch of deportees to Haiti after TPS termination
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More than 160 Haitians were flown to Cap-Haitien on Thursday, marking the first deportations since the United States ended Temporary Protected Status for the group.
The United States deported over 160 Haitians to the northern city of Cap-Haitien on Thursday, the first such flight since a court decision ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians. The aircraft landed at Cap-Haitien International Airport because the main airport in Port-au-Prince remains closed to commercial flights amid ongoing gang violence.
Most of the arrivals wore white clothing and covered their faces, and few spoke to reporters, citing fears of retaliation from gangs that control much of the capital and surrounding areas. The group included former TPS holders and individuals who had completed prison sentences, according to Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, director general of Haiti’s National Office of Migration.
"It is not the Haitian state that asks for them to be sent back," Delva said. "Our mission is to welcome migrants of forced return. … We welcome them with the aim of accompanying them to their home."
Delva noted that some deportees were not born in Haiti but are of Haitian descent, and that many plan to travel to the southern or western regions, routes that are reportedly controlled by armed groups. The government said it would provide each deportee with up to $65 and basic food and drink, and that those unable to reach their homes immediately would be placed in secure shelters until they could be relocated.
The Supreme Court had allowed the TPS program to end in June, affecting about one million people from multiple countries. A federal judge later lifted an injunction that had temporarily halted Haitian deportations, clearing the way for the recent flight.
Human-rights groups and Haitian advocacy organizations warned that the country lacks the capacity to absorb the returnees, with more than half of Haiti’s 12 million residents already dependent on humanitarian aid due to gang-related displacement, poverty and food insecurity. The Group Supporting Refugees and Returnees said Haiti is not prepared for the influx and highlighted the lack of government assistance for the deportees.
The flight was the first of its kind since December 2023, according to a monitoring organization that tracks ICE deportation flights. Earlier in the day, U.S. immigration authorities also detained a well-known Haitian pastor and another Haitian man in Ohio, reflecting a broader pattern of enforcement actions against Haitian migrants in the United States.