US Deports 161 Haitians in First Flight Since TPS End

The United States deported 161 Haitian nationals back to their homeland on Thursday, marking the first such flight since the Trump administration successfully ended a long-standing temporary protected status program that had shielded more than 300,000 Haitians from removal. The charter plane, operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, landed in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien because the main international airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, remains too dangerous due to widespread gang violence.

The deportees, including adults and children, arrived shortly before noon. Many wore white and covered their faces as they disembarked, with nearly all declining to speak to journalists, citing safety fears. Haiti’s director general of the National Office of Migration, Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, confirmed the arrivals and stated the deportees included former TPS holders, individuals who had completed prison sentences, those arrested and charged with crimes, and others placed in removal proceedings after entering the U.S. illegally. Notably, some deportees were born in other countries such as Chile and the Dominican Republic but were sent to Haiti because they have a Haitian parent.