First ICE Deportation Flight Arrives in Haiti After TPS Termination
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An ICE charter carrying over 160 Haitian nationals landed in Cap-Haïtien, marking the first deportation to Haiti since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the end of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) charter transporting more than 160 Haitian nationals touched down in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second-largest city, on Thursday. The airport was chosen because the main international gateway in Port-au-Prince remains closed to U.S. commercial flights through early September due to ongoing gang violence.
The deportees, many of whom covered their faces, declined to speak with reporters, citing fears of retaliation from gangs that control much of the capital and surrounding areas. The U.S. Department of State currently advises citizens against all travel to Haiti, warning of crime, kidnapping, unrest and limited health care.
The flight follows the Supreme Court’s decision that upheld the Trump administration’s authority to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians living in the United States. A district judge lifted a stay on removals earlier this month, allowing the deportations to proceed.
Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, director general of Haiti’s national office of migration, told the Miami Herald that some of those on the plane were born in Chile or the Dominican Republic but were sent to Haiti because of a Haitian parent.
"It is a stunning contradiction that an administration that advises Americans against all travel to Haiti would compel hundreds of thousands of Haitians into such dire circumstances," said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the immigrant-serving nonprofit Global Refuge.
Deportees received a cash allowance of about $76, which is less than the cost of a commercial ticket to Port-au-Prince but intended to cover travel through gang-controlled routes. Critics note that Haitian workers under TPS contribute significantly to the U.S. economy, paying taxes and filling essential jobs.
The flight is the first of at least eight ICE deportations to Haiti this year, including a July 16 flight that carried individuals with criminal records.