Deported People - Haiti Observer Blog

We just learned from Radio Vision 200 that Mr. Jacques Ketant just arrived in Haiti today, August 18, 2018. According to Mr. Valery Numa of Radio Vision 2000, Jacques ketant arrived at Toussaint Louverture Airport via an airplane and was among over 50 deported Haitians from the United States.

According to sources close to us, upon his arrival in Haiti, Ketant was taken to Haiti National Police to be fingerprinted and photographed as a normal procedure conducted to all Haitians returned as a result of deportation. He was then released to some family members.

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The Haitian Women of Miami staged a press conference outside their Miami offices on August 27, 2014 to test the theory that there is strength in numbers. The advocates would try to sway the immigration officials, who have in custody over a dozen Haitian migrants, to release a list of the names of those held. Speaking to the crowd at the event, the group's Executive Director, Marleine Bastien, said that the detainees needed to be given their right to due process.

The refugees were picked up days before as they tried to enter the United States through Hillsboro Beach. Information is scarce, but of the 20 migrants suspected to have set out, 19 have survived, 5 of whom are children. Desperate family members also were present at the press conference, holding up pictures of their loves ones, chanting along with the crowd for a stop to deportation and the release of the children in custody.

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In just 30 days, over 3,100 Haitians were deported from the Dominican Republic, a record taken from the Dajabon province only. This number shows that an estimated 100 to 150 people, most of whom are pregnant women, are deported from the territory every day after trying to gain illegal access into the country.

Women enter the Dominican Republic hoping to give birth there and have their children registered as a citizen of the more prosperous country, but this shows the high level of misinformation surrounding the National Plan for Regularization of Foreigners (PNRE).

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In a blatant disregard of human rights, several hundred repatriated Haitian seasonal workers were abandoned at the Haitian Customs Office in the Dominican Republic in May. Human rights agency Siské Jano Border Network (SJBN) investigated and discovered not one of the workers employed as sugarcane cutters for Barahona Sugar Mill Consortium (BSMC) possessed a visa, required to work in the Dominican Republic (DR) where BSMC is located.

The Haitian Directorate General of Immigration (DGI) is responsible for issuing visas, but apparently made concessions to BSMC, so BSMC could avoid the cost of providing workers' documentation. And it seems DGI didn't want to absorb the cost either. The Haitian Customs Office could not process the repatriates without a record of their immigration status. But they are also at fault for not alerting the DGM, according to that office.

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Since its start in 2009, the program, established to dissuade migrants from the Northwestern coast of Haiti, who seek escape to neighboring countries like the United States, Cuba, Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas, has helped in giving aid to some 22,000 returning people intercepted at sea who are often worse for wear during the taxing journeys.

Having given assistance to thousands of people since its inception with help from local businesses, fund and awareness raising efforts, the program has garnered the attention of the US State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) who work assiduously to keep the rise of irregular migration into US shores under control. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has thus received a donation of $100,000 to be used to improve the program and give 300 assistance packages to detained migrants.

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Deportation has been a long-standing practice of the United States of America. With the Alien Act (1798), the president was able to deport an alien classified as dangerous, and the new Naturalization Act stated that 14 years, not 5, was the acceptable period for an immigrant to reside in the US before being considered for naturalization.

With the promise of a better life a shiny beacon to people in struggling countries, the U.S. has seen a steady influx of immigrants of various ethnicities and religions. Thus, the rate of U.S. deportations is well into the millions, with Ellis Island acting as a microcosm from which 12 million deportees, between 5 and 10 thousand per day, were deported during a 32 year period. Many were expelled for failing medical exams due to illnesses they picked up during their sea-voyages. A recorded 3000 took their lives after being turned away.

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