Following the regular resumption of deportations by the Obama administration in September 2016 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html of Haitians convicted of a serious crime or who pose a threat to national security, the United States deported 5,578 Haitians in Haiti in 2017, 18 times more than in 2016 when 310 Haitians had been deported.

The dramatic rise in evictions coincided with a 203 per cent increase in the number of Haitian arrivals to the US southern border in 2016, which has since declined significantly with the drastic measures introduced by the Trump administration.

Note that these deportations do not affect Haitians who are in the United States under temporary protection status (TPS), except in criminal cases.

Moreover, in January 2018 the number of Haitians in the country decreased further after the decision of the Homeland Security to remove their eligibility for temporary agricultural and seasonal visas in the United States.

The notice, issued under the Trump administration, states that the recipients of these visas "have historically demonstrated high levels of fraud and abuse and a high rate of overstaying" and that the inclusion of Haiti for these visas "is no longer in the U.S. interest".

This change came one week after Trump was held insulting remarks towards Haiti and other countries of the world https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23314-haiti-politic-official-reaction-of-the-haitian-senate-on-the-words-of-trump.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23259-haiti-flash-haitian-government-s-reaction-to-president-trump-s-remarks.html and a few months after Donald Trump ordered that the TPS be canceled for Haitians, whose the deadline is July 22, 2019 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22759-haiti-flash-tps-more-than-50-000-haitians-will-have-to-leave-the-usa.html .

In addition, the Trump Administration issued a policy change in January 2017 that has broadened the scope of immigration priorities, said Randy Capps, Director of Research for the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). This change puts an end to prosecutors' discretion to prioritize the deportation of the most serious criminals.

Recall that according to a census analysis carried out by the MPI, the Haitian population in the United States has increased steadily since the 1980s and tripled between 1990 and 2015. The United States has the largest Haitian diaspora in the world, Florida and New York is home to the largest communities.

Haitian deportation data for the year 2018 are not yet available.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23314-haiti-politic-official-reaction-of-the-haitian-senate-on-the-words-of-trump.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23259-haiti-flash-haitian-government-s-reaction-to-president-trump-s-remarks.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22759-haiti-flash-tps-more-than-50-000-haitians-will-have-to-leave-the-usa.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18700-haiti-flash-usa-resumption-of-regular-deportations-to-haiti.html

SL/ HaitiLibre