Biden administration resumes deportation flights to Haiti amid ongoing violence

Dozens of Haitians expelled from the United States were en route to Haiti on Thursday in the Department of Homeland Security’s first deportation flight since an ongoing gang insurgency forced the Biden administration to halt a flight with deportees and order the evacuation of Americans.

Haiti’s Office of National Migration confirmed they’ve been informed by U.S. authorities to expect the arrival of 74 Haitians aboard an Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight in Cap-Haitien on Thursday. The plane, which left Alexandria, Louisiana, was scheduled to first stop in Miami before landing in the northern Haiti city.

“The resumption of deportation flights to Haiti is beyond belief. At least beliefs that embrace compassion and humanity,” said Tom Cartwright, an independent volunteer analyst who tracks ICE deportation flights and was the first to spot the Haiti-bound U.S. government charter.

Randolph McGrorty, executive of Catholic Legal Services in Miami, was surprised as well.

“It is simply cruel to deport individuals to Haiti at this time,” he said. “I am very concerned that we are are not following the law and our international obligations by adequately assessing asylum concerns and basic humanitarian principles.”

This is the first deportation flight since Homeland Security canceled an ICE Air charter on Feb. 29, the day armed gangs led a coordinated attack on the international and domestic airports in Port-au-Prince before orchestrating the escape of more than 4,000 prisoners during a massive raid on Haiti’s two largest prisons. Since then the violence has continued, with armed groups burning and vandalizing schools, businesses and hospitals while trying to take over the airport and the National Palace.

Amid the attacks, the United Nations, immigration-rights advocates and others have called for a moratorium on deportations to Haiti, citing the humanitarian crisis the country faces. More than 360,000 people have had to flee their homes because of gang violence, and 5.5 million Haitians are in need of humanitarian assistance.

“Just where are these deportees supposed to go?” said William O’Neill, the U.N.’s human-rights expert on Haiti. “I would just ask the United States and all countries to halt immediately all deportations to a country that cannot guarantee anyone’s security, where 1.5 million people are facing famine and where embassies are evacuating most of their personnel.”

The U.N. has said that of the Haitians forced out of the homes by the violence over the last three years, nearly 90,000 are in Port-au-Prince, living in squalid encampments. Cholera is on the rise, and access to clean water, medications and medical care is limited. Gangs have destroyed dozens of hospitals and pharmacies and their control of roads have disrupted the flow of aid and food.

The ongoing closure of the country’s main seaport means that hospitals are running out of supplies and store shelves are increasingly bare.

In response to the crisis, the State Department warned Americans to leave and helped hundreds to evacuate via helicopters to the neighboring Dominican Republic and a charter plane from Cap-Haitien. The State Department warned U.S. citizens living outside of the northern port city of the dangers of traveling by road.

The administration’s last deportation flight to Haiti was on Jan. 18. The next one, planned for Feb. 29, was canceled. In between, however, the U.S. Coast Guard has returned Haitians picked up by sea.

Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, the head of Haiti’s migration office, said Haitians returning on deportation flights are from all over the country and returning home means traveling through roads and neighborhoods controlled by armed gangs.

Given the ongoing crisis and the limited capacity to help those returning, he said, he has asked U.S. officials for a humanitarian reprieve on deportations.

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