Tag: Haiti

The Caribbean
Cherizier

Haiti gangs profit from mission delay

The continually delayed deployment of a Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission has raised concerns over how prepared the UN-approved and US-bankrolled force will be to face the security crisis in Haiti. The violent gangs that now control most of Port-au-Prince have posted direct threats to the MSS force and paraded their heavy weaponry on social media. Amid reports of a large inventory of Colombian weapons being trafficked to Haitian gangs, some experts worry that the firepower of the gangs has been underestimated. One analysis warns that the gangs are exploiting the delays to “fortify what could be a fierce response.” (Photo: Haiti Liberte)

Africa
police

Kenya court approves suit opposing Haiti deployment

The Kenya High Court ordered that a lawsuit seeking to prevent the deployment of police troops to Haiti be served on top government officials. Leaders of the civil organization Thirdway Alliance Kenya filed the complaint to block the deployment, which is part of a UN-backed mission to assist Haiti’s battle against gang violence. The plaintiffs argued that the government’s agreement with Haiti to deploy the troops is in contempt of a January court order that deemed the deployment unconstitutional. The plaintiffs emphasized the urgency of the matter, noting that the deployment is scheduled to begin this month. (Photo: Amnesty Kenya via PolicingInsight)

North America
Haiti

US deports Haitians amid surging gang violence

The Biden administration reportedly sent over 70 Haitians back to their homeland amid the Caribbean nation’s ongoing struggle with gang violence. The deportations were met with condemnation from human rights organizations, including the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), which characterized the move as “intentional violence.” The HBA and nearly 500 other rights groups sent a letter to the Biden administration last month requesting an extension on the moratorium on deportations of Haitians. The letter also called for the White House to re-designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program for migrants from countries beset with armed conflict, allowing them to live and work in the US without fear of deportation. The letter reminded the administration of its “promise to build a fairer and more inclusive immigration and asylum system.” (Photo: msjennm/Pixabay via Jurist)

Africa
Kenyan soilders

Kenya-led intervention force approved for Haiti

The UN Security Council voted to approve a multi-national armed force led by Kenya to combat violent gangs in Haiti—marking the first time in nearly 20 years that foreign forces are to be deployed to the Caribbean nation. Kenya’s foreign minister said that his country wants to go beyond tackling the gangs, helping to strengthen infrastructure and restore democracy in Haiti, where elections have been repeatedly postponed due to the violence. But many have voiced skepticism about deployment of the force, asking how it will work if Kenyan troops don’t speak French or Kreyol, and questioning the wisdom of sending personnel from a military criticized at home for human rights abuses. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

New York City
lower-east-side

New York City mayor: ‘no room’ for migrants

New York Mayor Eric Adams traveled to the US-Mexico border and declared that “there is no room” for migrants in his city. At a press conference with El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, Adams called on the US government to help cities manage unprecedented levels of immigration, and claimed that the influx of migrants could cost New York City up to $2 billion. “The federal government should pick up the entire cost,” Adams said. “[W]e need a real leadership moment from FEMA. This is a national crisis.” He also criticized the governors of Texas and Colorado for contributing to a “humanitarian crisis that was created by man,” citing busloads of migrants sent to New York and other northern cities. But New York City comptroller Brad Lander dissented from Adams’ Texas trip, stating that it “reinforces a harmful narrative that new migrants themselves are a problem.” (Photo via TripAdvisor)

North America
border wall

Biden admin to expand Title 42 expulsions

President Joe Biden announced that the US is to extend a parole program previously offered only to migrants from Venezuela to those from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti, allowing them to apply for residency—but reiterated that his administration will continue to enforce Title 42, in compliance with a recent order from the Supreme Court. In fact, under his new policy, Title 42 expulsions are to increase, with Mexico agreeing to accept expelled Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians. A provision of the Public Health Service Act allowing for summary expulsion of migrants at the southern border, Title 42 is in effect pursuant to a Centers for Disease Control order of March 2020 as a COVID-19 emergency measure. The policy shifts as litigation over Title 42 has been batted back and forth in the US courts has led to confusion in cities on both sides of the border. Squalid encampments have sprung up in Matamoros, Reynosa and other Mexican border towns as migrants await entry to the US. (Photo via FWS)

North America
border

Biden administration to restart ‘Remain in Mexico’

The US Department of Homeland Security announced that it will begin re-implementing the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a Trump-era policy forcing asylum-seekers to “Remain in Mexico” for the duration of their immigration proceedings. The announcement follows a Supreme Court order requiring re-implementation of the MPP over the objections of the Biden administration. The policy may, however, violate international law. The 1951 UN Convention & Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees requires states to grant refugees the right to seek asylum, to have free access to courts, and to be afforded movement within the country. It also prohibits expulsion (“refoulement”) to a country where their lives or freedom may be threatened. (Photo: WikiImages via Jurist)

Central America
Darién

Danger grows on Darién Gap migrant route

The Darién Gap, a dangerous jungle route used by a growing number of migrants trying to reach the United States from South America, has become even deadlier, according to Panama’s Forensic Sciences Institute. It reports over 50 migrant deaths to date in 2021, although the figure is believed to be far higher. Towns on the Colombian side of the border are swelling with migrants waiting to cross the Gap—mostly Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans, but some from as far as Afghanistan and Burkina Faso. Colombian authorities say 67,000 migrants have passed through the border zone so far this year, more than 15 times the number in 2020. Former paramilitaries operating in the area are now preying on the migrants, who face rape, armed violence and extortion. (Photo: David González/TNH)

The Caribbean
haiti-quake-rubble

Haiti: gang warfare hinders earthquake recovery

More than 500,000 are in need of emergency assistance in Haiti’s southern peninsula, where a 7.2-magnitude earthquake has killed more than 2,100 people and injured more than 12,200. Aid and medical efforts are hampered by debris-strewn roads, rain from Tropical Storm Grace, a shortage of working hospitals, and gang violence. A hospital in Port-au-Prince was closed by a two-day shutdown to protest the kidnapping of two doctors. Violent gangs patrol many of the country’s transport routes. The southern peninsula has yet to recover from Hurricane Matthew, which killed hundreds in 2016. Prime Minister Ariel Henryhas promised to speed up aid efforts—more than 30,000 families are displaced, and there are fears of cholera due to lack of safe water, sanitation, and shelter. (Photo: Evens Mary/The New Humanitarian)

The Caribbean
Cherizier

Haiti: president killed amid paramilitary strife

An apparent squad of mercenaries, arriving in nine brand-new Nissan Patrol vehicles, staged a night raid on the home of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse in the upscale Port-au-Prince suburb of Pèlerin, and shot him dead. His wife, Martine, was also gravely wounded. The seemingly professional hit job followed weeks of rapidly rising violence in Port-au-Prince. Days earlier, three gunmen on motorcycles killed 15 people in the Delmas 32 area. Shortly later, gunmen believed to be from the same group carried out the targeted assassinations of women’s rights activist Marie Antoinette “Netty” Duclaire and radio journalist Diego Charles, in the Christ-Roi neighborhood. A year-long truce between the city’s gangs was broken in early June, setting off neighborhood battles across the capital. (Photo: Haiti Liberte)

North America
immigrants

Biden admin grants protected status for Haitians

US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced an 18-month designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This humanitarian protection allows an estimated 100,000 individuals to apply to remain lawfully in the US. Statutory grounds for TPS designation include armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. Haiti now faces political crisis and human rights abuses, security concerns, and the exacerbation of a “dire economic situation” due to COVID-19, Mayorkas found. TPS for Haitians had been revoked by the Trump administration, although the revocation never took effect due to legal challenges. (Photo: WikiMedia Commons)

The Caribbean
Haitians in Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic to build wall on Haitian border

The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinador announced that work will begin this year on a wall along the country’s 376-kilometer border with Haiti. “Within two years we want to end the serious problems of illegal immigration, drug-trafficking and the transport of stolen vehicles that we’ve suffered from for two years,” said Abinader. Weeks earlier, Abinader and his Haitian counterpart Jovenel Moise signed an agreement that included a commitment to take measures against “the wave of illegal migration” and to “reinforce border security and vigilance.” Two years ago, Dominican authorities started erecting a section of fence along the border at El Carrizal, sparking angry protests by Haitian immigrants living in the area. (Photo: Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores via Change.org)