First group of deportees arrives in troubled Haiti after US ends TPS program

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) 鈥� The U.S. deported more than 160 people to on Thursday for the first time since the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for some 350,000 Haitians.

The plane landed in the northern Haitian city of because the main international airport in Port-au-Prince is considered too dangerous. The U.S. government currently has a ban on U.S. commercial flights to Haiti鈥檚 capital through early September because of .

The deportees were clad in white, and many covered their faces out of safety as journalists filmed their arrival. Nearly all declined to talk, with some fearing being targeted by gangs that control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and swaths of land beyond.

The deportees included and Haitians who had served prison sentences, said Jean N茅got Bonheur Delva, director general of Haiti鈥檚 National Office of Migration.

鈥淚t is not the Haitian state that asks for them to be sent back,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur mission is to welcome migrants of forced return. 鈥� We welcome them with the aim of accompanying them to their home.鈥�

Deported Haitians search for a home

Delva noted that some of the deportees were not born in Haiti, although they are of Haitian descent.

He said that several deportees planned to travel to Haiti鈥檚 southern region, a dangerous journey because gangs control the main routes leading to that area and are known to randomly open fire on vehicles passing through.

Others are going to Haiti’s western region, he said.

鈥淭here is one migrant who knows nothing about Haiti because he said he was coming from the Dominican Republic; that鈥檚 where he was born,鈥� Delva said.

He said the government would attempt to reunify him with any potential relatives in Haiti or the Dominican Republic, where his mother and father live.

Immigration officials in Haiti on Thursday offered deportees a maximum of $65 and something to drink and eat.

鈥淭hose who cannot reach their homes today, we will host them in secure spaces and the next day the process will continue until all migrants return home as they should,鈥� Delva said.

Delva did not say how many of the 161 deportees were who had been living and working legally in the U.S. since 2010.

In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the TPS program to end, affecting some 1 million people from more than a dozen countries.

The cases went back to the lower courts, but by late July, the government had not extended work permits for Haitians.

On Aug. 5, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., lifted an order preventing deportations of Haitians on Temporary Protected Status, which was effectively a formality after the Supreme Court ruling in June.

Activists warn Haiti is too dangerous for deportees

Activists have warned that Haiti is currently too dangerous and doesn鈥檛 have enough resources to help those being deported to a country of nearly 12 million people, of which more than half need humanitarian assistance because of surging gang violence and and violence.

Gang violence already has displaced a record 1.5 million people across Haiti, where more than 3,100 people were reported killed from January to June and another 1,189 injured, according to U.N. statistics.

One deportee briefly spoke to The Associated Press as he arrived in Cap-Haitien. He identified himself as Jean Diane Louis and said he left Haiti when he was 5 years old. He said his family lives in New York City and that he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for an unspecified crime he asserted he did not commit.

鈥淭hen ICE came and took me without questioning me,鈥� Louis said. 鈥淭hey just sent me here.鈥�

As gang violence persists, Haitian migrants in the U.S. continue to be arrested and deported.

On Thursday, U.S. authorities arrested a popular Haitian pastor at a gas station in Springfield, Ohio, according to Springfield G92, a faith-based group supporting Haitian immigrants. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a second Haitian man who was with him.

The pastor, Gilbert Joubert Adrien, was being held by immigration authorities in Ohio, said Marjory Wentworth, a spokesperson for Springfield G92. She said ICE has been a heavy presence in recent days in Springfield, a city of about 60,000 people that gained attention when during his 2024 campaign that Haitian residents there ate dogs.

Haiti鈥檚 Group Supporting Refugees and Returnees has decried the deportations.

鈥淗aiti is not ready to receive this number of migrants who were in the TPS program,鈥� it said in a statement Thursday.

The group noted that more than 140,000 Haitians have been deported from neighboring countries, including the Dominican Republic, in the first half of the year alone.

鈥淲e note that there are no government measures in place to adequately assist these migrants,鈥� the group said.

It added that many of those deported 鈥渉ave seen their dreams go up in smoke; the bonds they had already made in their communities are broken. Many are experiencing family separation.鈥�

The U.S. had conducted about one deportation flight to Haiti since December 2023, according to Human Rights First鈥檚 ICE Flight Monitor, which tracks flight data. Since December 2025, flights have originated in , a hub for ICE deportation flights, with a stop in Miami on the way to Cap-Haitien International Airport.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.