Haitian community leader: Returning home under current conditions is a ‘death sentence’ | Local

Temporary protected status for Haiti officially ended Wednesday, Aug. 5, leaving many Haitians in Springfield vulnerable to detention and deportation.

But Haiti is not a safe country, due to rampant gang violence, lack of access to healthcare and poverty as a result of high unemployment rates, said Haitian Community Help and Support Center President Vilès Dorsainvil.

“Anything can happen to any person at any time and there is no system in place to try the person that hurts you or shoots you or kidnaps you,” Dorsainvil said. “There is nothing as such. Whenever something happens to you in Haiti, you are on your own, which means that somebody can go there and that person can be followed by the hoodlums to his or her final destination.”

Gangs continue to gain territories even in areas previously considered safe, and the country is still without a democratic system, Dorsainvil said. He said current conditions make holding a safe general election impossible.

“The government still cannot deliver political goods — even the general elections that the U.S. has been pressuring the government to organize, many people believe that the conditions in there are not good now … because folks won’t be able to come out to vote,” Dorsainvil said.

Many neighborhoods, particularly around the Port-au-Prince National Palace, which was the residence of the president until it was severely damaged by the 2010 earthquake and then demolished, now look “apocalyptic,” Dorsainvil said.

Despite the danger, most government services are concentrated in Port-au-Prince, he said.

“That is the most dangerous place back there,” Dorsainvil said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has urged Haitians to self-deport, and is offering $2,600 in cash and free travel out of the United States as incentives to do so.

But Dorsainvil said he has not heard of anybody actually receiving that money, and the U.S. government saying that returning Haitians will have it is putting them in more danger.

“Those gang members, they’re all over TikTok and they’re all over social media — they’re hearing that and the first thing that they will do is to target you to get that money from you,” Dorsainvil said.

Haiti was assigned temporary protected status in 2010 following a devastating earthquake that destroyed much of the country. The designation has since been extended numerous times due to violence and political unrest.

The U.S. Department of State has continuously classified Haiti under a Level 4 – “Do not travel” advisory, citing a risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest and limited healthcare. The country has been under a national state of emergency since March 2024.

An upcoming report on Haiti says that at least 613 people were killed and 375 injured in two neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, in the 4.5 months leading up to July 31, according to the United Nations.

Gangs control up to 90% of the capital and some surrounding areas, and more than 176 women and girls from ages 10 to 71 were victims of rape “at the hands of suspected gang members ‘often as a form of punishment against people living in areas controlled by rival gangs’” in that time period, according to the UN.

More than 18,000 people fled their homes for safety in that time period.

The report from BINUH, the UN’s political office in Haiti, documented several graphic cases illustrating the extent of the crisis:

In one instance, gang leaders shot and killed two 17-year-old boys accused of informing a rival group. In another, a woman was “executed on the spot” after becoming too “paralyzed with fear” to respond to armed men questioning her presence in the area.

Attacks on homes and public gatherings have been equally brutal. Armed men gang-raped a woman in front of her 10-year-old son before setting her home on fire — killing both her husband and two-year-old daughter. In a separate incident, a gang opened fire on a crowd of 300 people returning from a World Cup soccer match, leaving at least 61 dead and 20 injured.

According to the UN, of the country’s population of 11 million, around 6.4 million need humanitarian assistance. More than 5.8 million “are expected to go hungry this year.”

Violence has disrupted healthcare, clean water supply and education, and shrinking resources make it difficult to maintain emergency shelters, hospitals and nutrition programs, according to the UN.

The country has not had an elected president since President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in July 2021.

“Restoring democratic government remains one of the country’s biggest challenges, but credible voting cannot take place unless security improves significantly,” the UN said. “Armed gangs continue to control many neighbourhoods and major roads, making it difficult to register voters, move election materials and guarantee public safety.”

Preparations to hold an election in Haiti are underway with hopes to have a first round of voting before the end of the year for an elected president to take office in February.

Additionally, there are anti-gang operations underway, though progress is slow. Special police units are pushing gangs out of some locations in Port-au-Prince to reopen some major roads and allow government institutions to return to areas of the city.

The UN-backed Gang Suppression Force started patrolling the capital in June, with one operation resulting in 14 arrests and the seizure of hundreds of Molotov cocktails. Two “specialized judicial units” are now investigating sexual violence, mass crimes and major financial crimes as well.

“Despite these recent operations, gangs remain capable of launching deadly attacks, extorting communities and disrupting everyday life,” the UN said.

Haiti’s own security forces have faced scrutiny and accusations of abuses by its members, with 40 cases involving “summary executions by police officers.”

According to the UN, key priorities in the Caribbean country include reducing the gangs’ ability to operate and control the country, making the country safe enough to hold elections, protecting women and girls, funding humanitarian aid and strengthening the justice system and punishing offenses.

Many Haitians would love to return to their home country but doing so “anytime soon” is a “death sentence,” Dorsainvil said.

The unemployment rate in Haiti is at about 15%, and Dorsainvil said most people who are employed only get job opportunities through nepotism or compromising themselves; there have been many accusations of sexual abuse in exchange for jobs.

Many employed Haitians work at international nongovernmental agencies, Dorsainvil said, but these jobs don’t pay very well. He said a friend of his who works for one of these organizations as a security guard only gets about $150 USD per month.

Dorsainvil himself, who has multiple degrees, said between 2018 and 2020 he was turned down for 50 jobs in Haiti. He had spent the prior five years in Jamaica and had no network upon which to rely in Haiti when he returned.

Some Haitians who are planning to leave the country are considering moving to places like Mexico or Canada, though to go to Canada, people need to have a family member to receive them, Dorsainvil said.

There is no straightforward path to leaving the U.S. and then coming back legally, he said, contrary to what some locals have said. Dorsainvil said he keeps hearing people tell Haitians to leave and return “the right way,” but he doesn’t really understand what that means, as there is no mechanism to do so.

The News-Sun reached out to DHS regarding community claims that Haitians have not received the advertised $2,600 check and that no clear legal path exists for them to leave and re-enter “the right way,” but did not receive a response prior to publication.

SPRINGFIELD NEWS-SUN COVERAGE

Community impacted by end of TPS for Haitians

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration and gave the federal government the green light to remove legal protections for more than 330,000 Haitian immigrants who reside in the United States, which includes an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people who live in the Springfield area.

Here are some highlights of community perspectives and our reporting on this issue.