Nearly 100 Haitians intercepted at sea by U.S. Coast Guard near Turks and Caicos

The United States Coast Guard deported 98 Haitians who attempted to travel illegally to Providenciales, a Turks and Caicos island, by boat on April 1. The group included 77 men, 12 women and nine children. According to local reports, they were repatriated to Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s northern capital.

“The country [Haiti] is no good,” a 57-year-old unidentified deportee told Cap-Haitien’s news outlet, Comactu. “They are not offering us anything in this country. It’s people who have things who are living; if you don’t, you can’t live… If Haiti were offering something, if it had a government, we wouldn’t cram in a vessel to go to another land.”

The 57-year-old man said he hoped to move to Providenciales to find work and pay for one of his children’s schooling in Haiti.

The National Office of Migration (OMN) has yet responded to The Haitian Times’ request for  details about how the deportees were received.

Haiti is facing multiple crises, including widespread unemployment, escalating gang violence and soaring living costs. The 98 Haitians were deported during a time that hints at even more difficult days ahead. Just one day before their vessel was intercepted, a gang invaded Mirebalais, a commune of nearly 200,000 people, and freed over 500 inmates from a local prison. Police clashed with gang members, resulting in at least 30 deaths. However, many gang members remain in the city, continuing to terrorize residents and forcing thousands to flee to nearby towns, including Lascahobas, Belladère and Hinche.

The violent takeover of  Mirebalais has fueled fears that gangs will continue spreading throughout the country, prompting residents nationwide to remain on high alert.

Mass deportations from the U.S. are likely incoming

The 98 Haitians were deported ahead of a potential wave of Haitians returning from the United States. President Donald Trump’s administration has ended the I-134A humanitarian parole program (CHNV), also known as the Biden program in the Haitian community, requiring all beneficiaries to leave the U.S. by April 24 or face deportation.

Haitians continue to face hostile environments, both at home and abroad. In the Dominican Republic, the ultra-nationalist group Antigua Orden Dominicana held a violent anti-Haitian march on March 30 and plans to organize more in the coming days. The gorwing hostility could push scores of Haitians to return home.

These developments raise concerns about Haiti’s ability to reintegrate returning nationals while struggling to provide basic needs to its current residents.

A U.S. deportation flight carrying 46 passengers, including 25 felons, arrived in Cap-Haïtien on March 18, according to Africa News. It was the second deportation flight under Trump, whose term started in January. The first flight, in February, carried 21 deportees and also landed in Cap-Haïtien.

A painful trip without reaching the destination

The vessel departed Fort Saint-Michel, a neighborhood in Cap-Haïtien, on March 25, bound for Providenciales It was intercepted just before reaching its destination, deportees reported to Comactu. 

The vessel was approximately 35 feet long and was overloaded, according to a U.S. Coast Guard News press release.

“Attempting illegal migration in overloaded, unsafe vessels with no safety equipment is extremely dangerous and puts you and your loved one’s lives at risk,” Lt. Cmdr. Brent Pearson, Coast Guard liaison officer to U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, said in the press release. “Don’t take to the sea just to be sent back.

“The Coast Guard remains steadfast in our defense of the U.S. maritime borders and approaches with patrols in the Florida Straits, Windward and Mona Passages to interdict unlawful maritime migration attempts before they reach our shores,” Pearson added.

The deportees wore white clothing and carried their belongings in blue plastic bags. They stated they were not mistreated after being intercepted but described the weeklong journey as painful due to inadequate food. 

“The food they gave us, if you threw it at a phone screen, it would’ve broken it because the rice wasn’t cooked,” Peterson Fleurimé, 23, said. “If my country had organization, I would’ve never risked my life on the sea to leave.”

Fleurimé said he is planning on attempting to leave Haiti again even though many other countries, such as the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, do not welcome undocumented Haitians.

“I won’t give up until I make enough money (overseas) to return to Haiti with,” Fleurimé said.

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