Haitian and immigrant-rights advocates want all deportations to Haiti suspended
Immigrant-rights advocates are calling on the Biden administration to immediately suspend all deportation flights to Haiti, citing the inconsistencies in its policies and the deteriorating security situation in the gang-ridden Caribbean nation.
Immigrants’ rights organizations from across the country have sent a letter to the administration asking for the deportation flights to stop and decrying the administration’s refusal to implement a November 2022 call by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to “suspend the forced return of Haitians to their country.”
“We believe that silence is not enough, and at this time the government must take a stand,” said Shalyn Fluharty, executive director of the Americans for Immigrant Justice.
The request from the 74 groups comes on the heels of repeated warnings by both the State Department and U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince for U.S. citizens to leave Haiti as soon as possible, and amid continued deportations to Haiti by the U.S., which has recognized that the country is unsafe. As a result, the Biden administration has afforded tens thousands of Haitians the legal right to temporarily live and work in the U.S. through a designation of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, and the country’s inclusion in a humanitarian parole program for nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
In a press conference about the deportations, advocates, most of whom represent South Florida-based organizations, said the U.S. is inconsistent and hypocritical. The U.S. is deporting Haitians at the same time it is asking countries around the globe to support a foreign intervention in Haiti due to the safety issues. It is also deporting Haitians while telling Americans to leave the country “as soon as possible.”
“The life of every single Haitian should be valued just as the life of every American as it should be,” said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Since late July, Haiti has seen a resurgence in violence in many metropolitan Port-au-Prince neighborhoods. Despite a truce between the G-9 and “G-pèp-la,” gang coalitions, which led to a lull in violence in the Cité Soleil slum, gangs have expanded their control in other areas. The violence has led to growing tensions in communities such as Tabarre, where the U.S. Embassy was forced to curtail services due to rampant gun violence.
The country’s largest hospital, University of Mirebalais, came under a barrage of gunfire at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. Although none of the 350 patients were injured, the hospital’s administration condemned the attack. A known gang leader, Izo 5 Segonn, released a video complaining that an arms shipment he was expecting from the closed Dominican border had been diverted.
“The attack on the Mirebalais hospital is the latest in a series of attacks on hospitals and health care facilities in Haiti,” said William O’Neill, the U.N. independent human rights experts on Haiti who has also called for a suspension in deportations to Haiti. “These are egregious human rights abuses and those responsible must be brought to justice. Truly deplorable and devastating to a health community already on its knees.“
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Paul Christian Namphy, the program director for the Family Action Network Movement, said those are not conditions that people should be returned to.
“Gangs have essentially taken over life in Haiti.... People’s lives are grinding to a halt out of fear,” said Gepsie Metellus, the executive director of the Sant La Neighborhood Center. “In all good conscience, deportations to Haiti must stop.”
Vanessa Joseph, an immigration lawyer with Catholic Legal Services, said that given the United States’ historical commitment to assisting refugees, “we cannot ignore the grief and humanitarian concerns associated with these deportation flights.
“We have heard stories and witnessed the hardships that individuals face upon they’re forced to return to Haiti. And these are real people with real lives who deserve protection,” she said. “It’s the responsibility of the Biden administration to ensure that deportations do not lead to serious harm for those who are returned to Haiti. ... Sending more individuals into such a volatile situation is not a solution.”
While there have been nine deportation flights since November, Guerline Jozef of the San Diego-based Haitian Bridge Alliance said more than 30,000 Haitians have been deported since President Biden came into office. She noted that the end of this month will mark the two-year anniversary since thousands of Haitian migrants showed up under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, and many of them were deported back to Haiti.
“Those same people are still being deported back to Haiti,” she said.
Advocates say they have reason to believe that despite the deteriorating security situation in Haiti, the Biden administration intends to send another deportation flight to Haiti before the end of this month.
Florida state Rep. Dotie Joseph said given the dire situation in Haiti the administration, the U.S. should adhere to refugee protocols to afford Haitians the same protections as other refugees. It should also authorize Deferred Enforced Departure for Haiti similarly as it has done for other countries, which protects nationals from deportations.
“I am reiterating the UNHCR’s call on member states in the region, hopefully led by the United States to suspend the forced return of Haitians to their country of origin, with a devastating humanitarian and security crisis going on right now,” she said.. “We recognize the State Department’s own findings buttressing their TPS designation for Haiti, with the need to cease deportation.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2023 at 5:52 PM.
