161 People Deported to Haiti as ICE Flight Avoids Gang-Ravaged Port-au-Prince

An ICE charter carrying 161 deportees bypassed Haiti's capital Thursday, landing hundreds of miles north in Cap-Haïtien because gang violence has made Port-au-Prince too dangerous for the flight.

Dressed in white, many passengers covered their faces while walking past journalists near the aircraft. Some feared being identified by gangs that control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and territory outside the capital.

Washington currently warns Americans not to travel anywhere in Haiti because of kidnapping, crime, terrorism, unrest and limited health care. U.S. authorities nevertheless deported 161 people to the Caribbean nation.

Thursday's arrival was the first deportation flight to Haiti since Temporary Protected Status ended for roughly 350,000 Haitians. Haitian migration authorities said former TPS holders were among those sent back, though they did not disclose how many.

Some passengers had completed prison sentences in the United States, while others had been ordered removed for immigration violations. Haitian authorities also reported receiving people born in Chile and the Dominican Republic who had at least one Haitian parent.

Getting home presented another obstacle once passengers left the airport. Haiti's migration office provided food and up to $65 in financial assistance as gang-controlled roads complicated travel toward the southern and western regions.

The legal protections for Haitians survived a federal court fight. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes blocked the termination in February, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to retain TPS while the dispute moved through the federal judiciary.

A 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in June changed their legal position. The justices cleared the way for the Trump administration to end TPS for more than 350,000 Haitians and about 6,100 Syrians.

Created by Congress in 1990, TPS permits eligible people already inside the United States to live and work legally when armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions make returning home unsafe. Haiti received the designation in 2010 after an earthquake killed and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Conditions awaiting Thursday's passengers are dire enough for the State Department's highest travel warning. Gang violence has displaced a record 1.5 million people across Haiti, with more than 3,100 people reported killed between January and June.

Now some deportees face a country they barely know. One man who spoke with The Associated Press said he left Haiti when he was 5, while Haitian migration authorities described another deportee born in the Dominican Republic who knew virtually nothing about Haiti.