Haiti - FLASH : Deportation flights of Haitians from USA resumed
In accordance with the memorandum of 20 November on the "Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html the United States resumed, as announced, the deportation flights of Haitians to their home countries despite the post-Matthew recovery situation and the recent floods in Haiti.
Inspector Gary Desrosiers deputy spokesman of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) in charge of welcoming the deportees during their return to Haiti, confirmed that the resumption of such flights. The first flight arrived last Thursday in Port-au-Prince with 30 Haitians on board another flight arrived Tuesday this week with 40 other compatriots. Gary Desrosiers said these Haitians were subject to removal proceedings after entering illegally in the US and jailed.
Pierre Espérance, the Executive Director of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) recalled "These are not criminals deported, but people who went to Brazil and crossed from Mexico to San Diego, California" describing the recovery of these flights as unacceptable, adding "[...] the US Government did not show solidarity with Haiti [...] the country is in an extremely complicated situation. You have a hurricane, continuous floods, elections coming and the public treasury bankrupt... this is not the time to start repatriating people [...]"
Following the resumption of the deportation of Haitian nationals from the United States Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke declared Wednesday, Nov. 9 "Earlier today, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that removal proceedings have resumed for Haitian nationals in the United States who lack Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The majority of the people DHS intends to remove have not been accused of any crime [...] In this period of turmoil, the forced removal of Haitian nationals will only exacerbate the difficulties of rebuilding Haiti and deny families access to remittances from relatives in the United States. I am deeply saddened that these deportations have resumed, and I call on President Obama and his administration to end this policy immediately."
