Haiti Report, August 5, 2025
A compilation of news about Haiti from the past week.
Earthquakes strike near the Dominican Republic and in Haiti
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic early Tuesday, August 5, jolting residents awake in the Caribbean country and in neighboring Puerto Rico. The quake occurred 24 miles (38 kilometers) southeast of Boca de Yuma at a depth of 104 miles (168 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. No damage was reported. A 4.1 magnitude earthquake also struck near Haiti’s capital late Monday at a depth of three miles (five kilometers), according to the country’s civil protection agency. The quake was widely felt in Port-au-Prince and beyond. Officials said no damage was reported. Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, sits on the intersection of the North American plate and the Caribbean plate. https://apnews.com/article/dominican-republic-haiti-earthquake-ef964545fe28b69546fa5dc82b9f9a4e?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share
More than 1,500 killed between April and June
Between the beginning of April and the end of June, armed violence in Haiti has killed 1,520 people and injured 609 more, according to a new quarterly report from BINUH on human rights in Haiti which was released on Friday. These numbers are similar to those from the first quarter of 2025 when 1,617 people were killed and 580 were injured. “Gang attacks in the Artibonite and Centre departments, and in the capital, continue to cause serious human rights violations and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis,” said Ulrika Richardson, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti. In June alone, 45,000 people were displaced in Centre and Artibonite, meaning that the total number of displaced people across these two departments totals over 240,000, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Between April and June, security forces were able to slow down the gang’s expansion in the capital, but the UN office in Haiti, BINUH. noted that the situation still remains exceptionally volatile. Additionally, gangs have continued to expand into Artibonite and Centre, in some instances even beginning to establish sketches of governance to consolidate territorial gains. In Mirebalais, for example, two gangs who control the entry and exit points of this town, organized street cleaning and house painting campaigns. However, because the residents of Mirebalais have largely fled, these gangs reportedly had to recruit residents from their controlled territory in the capital. As many gangs expand their territory, they have committed human rights violations, according to the UN, including extrajudicial killings, child exploitations, trafficking, murder and gang rape. Gang rape is now the predominant form of sexual violence, accounting for 85 per cent of all documented cases.
Security operations against gangs accounted for 64 per cent of the deaths and injuries during this period, with 73 documented cases of summary executions and one-third of the deaths occurring as a result of explosive drones. One public prosecutor in Miragoâne killed 27 individuals whom he alleged were gang members between April and June, bringing the total number of executions he has committed with impunity to 83 since 2022. Over 1.3 million people are displaced and half of the population is facing food insecurity, and the humanitarian response plan is only 8 per cent funded. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165554
IJDH’s latest Update on Human Rights and Rule of Law in Haiti
Covering key stories and developments relevant to human rights in Haiti from December 2024 through June 2025. IJDH’s report covers the nature of Haiti's catastrophic human rights situation and disappointing performance of its transitional government, and offer an analysis of the underlying structural drivers, which include widespread government corruption, collusion with armed groups, and impunity; persistent international support for the political actors ultimately responsible; and long-term foreign extraction and interference.
https://www.ijdh.org/wp-content/uploads/HRU-July-2025.pdf
Report finds widespread human rights abuses against Haitians in Dominican Republic
A new report from the Global Justice Clinic at New York University details alarming patterns of human rights abuses committed by Dominican authorities against Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, as the government ramps up deportations under a policy enacted in October 2024 that calls for at least 10,000 Haitians to be deported a week. The 42-page report, titled “Racial Profiling & Mass Deportation: Rights Abuses of People of Haitian Descent in the Dominican Republic,” released last month, accuses the administration of President Luis Abinader of implementing racially discriminatory practices, including arbitrary detentions, violent raids, and the separation of children from their families. According to the report, Dominican officials have deported over 180,000 people to Haiti between October 2024 and March 2025—a figure that could exceed 360,000 by year’s end if current trends continue. The report also extensively documents that people are being targeted based on their skin color or perceived Haitian origin.
https://haitiantimes.com/2025/07/17/dominican-republic-deportations-haitians-rights-abuses/
8 including an Irish missionary are missing after gunmen storm orphanage in Kenscoff
Eight people including an Irish missionary and a 3-year-old child remained missing Monday after gunmen stormed an orphanage in Haiti, the latest attack in an area controlled by a powerful collection of armed gangs. Authorities scrambled to relocate dozens of children and staff from the Saint-Hélène orphanage run by Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs, an international charity with offices in Mexico and France. The orphanage cares for more than 240 children, according to its website. Among those kidnapped early Sunday was Gena Heraty, an Irish missionary who has worked in Haiti for 30 years and oversaw the orphanage. She was assaulted in 2013 when suspects broke into the orphanage and killed her colleague, according to Irish media. Sunday’s kidnapping occurred in Kenscoff, a once peaceful community in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. https://apnews.com/article/haiti-kidnapping-orphanage-irish-children-gangs-580233488b50a074122b2b0e4dd2d5a6?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=share
UNICEF Employees Held Hostage for 3 Weeks in Haiti
Five employees of UNICEF, the United Nation’s children’s organization, were released Monday night after being held by a gang for three weeks in Haiti, where criminal groups are turning to kidnappings to finance their criminal enterprises. Six people were kidnapped on July 7 during an authorized UNICEF mission in an area controlled by armed groups in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and one was released the following day, UNICEF said in a statement. The agency did not say whether any ransom was paid.
Haitian gangs are abducting people for ransom to buy weapons and ammunition as they tighten their violent grip on the capital and surrounding areas. Experts say that gangs are leaning more heavily on their own revenue sources, like extortion, imposing road tolls and kidnappings, allowing them to rely less on elite business leaders, who have traditionally supported them. Nearly 350 people were kidnapped in the first six months of this year, according to U.N. figures. The U.N. said 1,494 people were kidnapped in 2024, a year that saw a major surge in gang violence. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/us/haiti-unicef-hostages-gangs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aU8.izEs.svojm0cmF-25&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
US warns of corruption and reported bribery aimed at destabilizing Haiti as crisis deepens
U.S. officials announced Friday, August 1, that they are aware of “reported bribery attempts” aimed at destabilizing Haiti, raising concerns that the troubled country could sink further into crisis. The announcements were made on X by the U.S. Embassy in Haiti and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Officials did not provide details except to say that they commended members of Haiti’s transitional presidential council “for their rejection of corruption” and for collaborating with the current prime minister to “work together” to stabilize the country. “We will hold accountable anyone who attempts to undermine this collaboration,” the embassy wrote on X. The announcement comes as infighting threatens the stability of the council while gangs that control up to 90% of Haiti’s capital continue to seize more territory in Port-au-Prince and in Haiti’s central region. In October last year, Haiti’s anti-corruption unit accused three council members of bribery and corruption involving the government-owned National Bank of Credit. No one has been charged, and the council members remain in their positions. https://apnews.com/article/haiti-us-bribery-destabilize-government-gangs-e74130122d91cd4736de7e30b8b6ce0a?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=share
Road transport resumes in Haiti’s northwest as gangs ‘tax’ drivers to reach Port-au-Prince
Public transportation between Port-de-Paix and Port-au-Prince has resumed, but only under the control of those armed gangs who charge steep ransoms at unauthorized checkpoints. Drivers pay between approximately $400 and $3,000 for one-way trips—ransom fees that now determine access or danger on the 140-mile journey to the capital. “We may travel again—but from what I saw on the road, it’s not peace of mind we’re buying. It’s a ticket through a war zone,” Manise Renard, a shopkeeper, told The Haitian Times as she arrived in Port-de-Paix from Port-au-Prince. Despite these conditions, drivers and transport operators are slowly returning to the roads—many out of economic desperation. “It’s better to drive again than stay unemployed,” said Myilove Jean-Baptiste, a 35-year-old bus driver and native of Ouanaminthe.
Troubled OAS pitches a new Haiti intervention
Towards a Haitian-Led Roadmap for Stability and Peace with Regional and International Support, July 2025, Organization of American States Haiti Roadmap 25 July 7pm.pdf
The head of the Washington-based Organization of American States — a grouping of 35 Latin American and Caribbean countries focused on regional development — has a plan to mobilize its members to end the chaos in Haiti. The organization’s Secretary General ALBERT RAMDIN called for a $1.4 billion OAS-led and European Union-backed intervention in Haiti starting next month in a closed-door speech to OAS representatives Tuesday. In the speech, Ramdin outlined a plan to defeat the gangs sowing chaos in Haiti’s cities, allow unimpeded humanitarian aid to the country’s 1.3 million displaced people and restore order to pave the way to national elections. That will include the creation of six European Union-funded “forward operating bases” tasked to resolve the “dire” security situation in and around the capital Port-Au-Prince. Ramdin said that of the $1.4 billion that the OAS requires for the plan, a total of $900 million will fund “humanitarian response” in Haiti. If OAS members approve his proposal “by early September, we can start the process of execution” of the plan.
Ramdin’s pitch for OAS intervention in Haiti comes as the organization is in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. The U.S. has historically funded about 50 percent of the OAS’ annual budget. The Trump administration has withheld that money during a 180- day review of U.S. support for multilateral organizations that concludes Saturday. So far OAS has not impressed the Trump administration with its actions in Haiti. Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO criticized the OAS in May for failing to “provide a force” to stabilize Haiti. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2025/08/01/troubled-oas-pitches-a-new-haiti-intervention-00489402
Cancer patients in Haiti face death sentence due to distance, gangs, lack of resources
In the last few months, Haitians have not only seen the further collapse of their already fragile healthcare system, but for those with cancer, life-saving treatment has become even harder to obtain. In March, gangs attacked the city of Mirebalais, forcing the evacuation of the 35-bed University Hospital of Mirebalais. Haiti’s most modern health facility, the hospital offered free cancer care and was featured in the Miami Herald’s 2018 series “Cancer in Haiti.” The series explored how deaths from preventable diseases like cervical cancer were growing due to limited early detection programs and a lack of radiation treatment. The series also explored the lack of public health priority to pediatric cancer cases. The attack on Mirebalais was among several on hospitals that has stopped 40% of health facilities in the capital from operating. Among them is the St. Francis de Sales Hospital, which treated hundreds of cancer patients annually. In addition to having to pay for previously free care, patients from Mirebalais face another complication: The cancer specialist hasn’t been able to get access to their charts. Then, there is the lack of treatment equipment. “We still have limitations regarding radiation therapy,” Dr. Bernard said. In the past, patients had the possibility of traveling to the Dominican Republic or Cuba if they had the financial means. However, both have become nearly impossible to get to because of medication shortages and a lack of direct flights in the case of Cuba, and border closures with the Dominican Republic. As a result, patients, including children in need of radiation therapy, have had difficulties getting humanitarian visas to seek treatment. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article311490188.html#storylink=cpy
Haitians file class-action lawsuit to stop Trump administration from ending TPS
The class-action lawsuit was filed by five beneficiaries of TPS on Wednesday in federal court in the District of Colombia. The suit argues that returning Haitians to a nation being overtaken by gangs puts them at risk, that the decision by Homeland Security Secretary Krisiti Noem to end the deportation protections for up to more than a half-million Haitians did not go through the review process required by Congress, and that the move was based on racial animus toward Haitians. “The termination of Haiti’s TPS designation is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, not in accordance with law, in excess of statutory authority, without observance of procedure required by law, and contrary to constitutional rights because it was motivated by unlawful discriminatory animus,” the lawsuit said.
The law firms are Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt, Just Futures Law, Giskan Solotaroff & Anderson and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. “Haiti is a nation in chaos. Even Secretary Noem admits that. The decision to strip critical TPS protections despite the extraordinary conditions in Haiti is not just cruel, it’s also unlawful,” said Sejal Zota, legal director for Just Futures Law. “The administration cannot reverse-engineer the facts to justify its politically motivated decision to terminate.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article311526127.html#storylink=cpy
Ohio city braces to defend Haitians against deportation
An Ohio city whose Haitian migrants were disparaged by President Donald Trump last year as he pitched voters on his plans for an immigration crackdown is now bracing to defend the community against possible deportation.A group of about 100 community members, clergy and Haitian leaders in Springfield, Ohio, gathered this week for several days of training sessions as they prepare to defend potential deportees and provide them refuge.
“We feel that this is something that our faith requires, that people of faith are typically law-abiding people — that’s who we want to be — but if there are laws that are unjust, if there are laws that don’t respect human dignity, we feel that our commitment to Christ requires that we put ourselves in places where we may face some of the same threats,” said Carl Ruby, senior pastor of Central Christian Church. Ruby said the ultimate goal of the group is to persuade the Trump administration to reverse its decision to terminate legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the U.S. under temporary protected status, or TPS. https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2025/08/02/ohio-city-to-defend-migrants
Haitian police arrest a former senator accused of working with gangs to attack a peaceful community
Nenel Cassy was arrested Saturday at a restaurant in Petionville, a wealthy district of the capital, Port-au Prince, Haiti’s National Police said in a post on Facebook. Cassy was designated as a corrupt actor by the U.S. State Department in 2023. He was accused by Haiti’s police in February of backing gang members who launched deadly attacks on Kenscoff, a neighborhood 10 kilometers (6 miles) outside Port-au-Prince that is home to much of the nation’s elite. Kenscoff had been largely untouched by Haiti’s gang violence until February’s attacks in which dozens of people were killed. The neighborhood is now being targeted by gangs that are trying to seize more territory from Haiti’s government. https://apnews.com/article/haiti-police-arrest-nenel-cassy-senator-gangs-5d65411ad7309527b606403c3769387a
US judge keeps arrested Haitian businessman Reginald Boulos in custody
A federal immigration judge in Miami ordered on Thursday that wealthy Haitian businessman and one-time presidential hopeful Pierre Réginald Boulos remain in custody in the United States, where he is held over accusations of supporting violent gangs in Haiti. Boulos was arrested at his home in South Florida earlier in July, accused of being “engaged in a campaign of violence and gang support that contributed to Haiti’s destabilization,” the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said. A well-known member of Haiti’s elite, he is the most high-profile Haitian arrested to date under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. https://apnews.com/article/haiti-boulos-arrest-florida-detention-center-ice-e8caf04df9536fc3e5e2fc67e6c6067e
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is accusing Boulos of violating the Immigration and Nationality Act after failing to disclose his involvement in the formation of a political party in Haiti, Mouvement pour la Transformation et la Valorisation d’Haiti, when he applied for permanent residency in the U.S. In social media posts and a release after his arrest, they agency also accused him of “contributing to the destabilization of Haiti” by engaging in violence and collaborating with armed gangs. In a statement to the Miami Herald, family members said they and Boulos are committed to dealing with the allegations through the appropriate channels and look forward to presenting a full account of the facts. “Beyond the personal impact, this case raises broader concerns about humanitarian risk,” the family’s statement added. “Deportation to Haiti under current conditions presents serious and well-documented personal safety threats.” Boulos is the most high-profile Haitian to be detained by the Trump administration, which in recent months has tried to cut back deportation protections and work permits for over a half million Haitians temporarily in the United States. At the same time, the State Department is trying to show that it is serious about punishing those believed to be financing gangs in Haiti that have forced more than 1.3 million Haitians from their homes, killed thousands and left nearly 6 million Haitians struggling to find food. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article311531889.html#storylink=cpy
Gangs, Displacement, and Deportation Are Redrawing Haiti’s Map
As Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, buckles under the weight of gang control and state failure, the country’s center has collapsed, cutting off the North and South from each other and forcing them to operate as isolated blocs. From Ouanaminthe to Les Cayes, local actors are stepping into the vacuum left by an absent government, reshaping Haiti’s political map. In the face of the violence, over 1.3 million people have been displaced across Haiti, 11% of the population. The North and South stand now disconnected — last refuges for those escaping the violence.
Armed attacks in Mirebalais, 35 miles north of the capital, led to the closure of the Partners in Health hospital — a major blow to the region’s health infrastructure. The attacks also caused thousands to flee an otherwise peaceful region and disrupted supply chains, including the distribution of 60 tons of food aid, according to the World Food Program. More than half of the country is currently food insecure. Many have fled north to Hinche, en route to Cap-Haïtien and the border town of Ouanminthe. The Centre department is now home to nearly 150,000 IDPS and 85 IDP sites, according to the International Organization of Migration (IOM). As Haitians flee Port-au-Prince and now the Centre department and Artibonite region, armed groups are continuing to expand their control, which could have major political ramifications. “If they control the West, Artibonite and Centre departments, they pretty much control the elections,” said Rosy Auguste Ducéna, the Program Manager for the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights. “Now we have essentially three states,” said Auguste, highlighting those in the Northwest of Haiti facing starvation while food aid goes to waste in the South, “because nothing can circulate.”
In the North, displacement is compounded by a deportation crisis from the neighboring Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic has deported more than 80,000 Haitians since the beginning of the year to Belladere, an area in the Centre department, where they are stuck between the border town and the violence of armed groups, with nowhere else to go. Those who flee to the South or North of the country are either staying in makeshift camps on school grounds or churches, or staying with friends and family. Like in the North, Southern towns like Les Cayes are “becoming a hub,” according to Linda Thelemaque, Chief Programs Officer at Hope for Haiti. Traffic and activity increase as more people leave Port-au-Prince. https://inkstickmedia.com/port-au-prince-falls-and-a-fragmented-haiti-fights-to-survive/
Senators demand answers from Trump administration on ‘contradictory’ Haiti policies
A letter signed by nine senators, including Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is addressed to both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The two have until Aug. 15 to answer lawmakers’ questions on how the administration can include Haiti on a list of banned countries under a travel ban, yet deem the Caribbean nation safe enough to end Temporary Protected Status for its nationals living in the United States. “How does the Administration reconcile the security justification for Haiti’s inclusion in the travel ban with its simultaneous assessment that Haiti’s TPS status should be terminated because it is safe for Haitians to return home?” the senators ask. Last month, Fritz Alphonse Jean, the head of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential panel acknowledged that the government had signed a contract with foreign contractors. But Jean declined to provide details about the deal with Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater Worldwide, which senators are now demanding from Rubio. They describe Prince’s armed operations as the “unchecked deployment of a U.S. private military contractor with a troubling history.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article311493610.html#storylink=cpy
Haiti to send 400 police officers to Brazil for training
Currently, Haiti only has about 10,000 police officers and 1,300 soldiers protecting a country of nearly 12 million people, said Fritz Alphonse Jean, leader of the transitional presidential council. A total of 700 Haitian police officers and soldiers will be trained by foreign countries in upcoming months and will then join a Kenyan-led, U.N.-backed mission in its fight against gangs. Last week, 150 Haitian soldiers were deployed to Mexico for training. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/haiti-send-400-police-officers-brazil-training-gangs-124154476
Mission Ended Badly for American Team Fighting Haiti’s Gangs
Miot Patrice Jacquet, a U.S. Navy veteran, did not think twice about helping an American military contractor with a dangerous mission in his native Haiti. The company, Studebaker Defense, had an impressive pedigree: Its board is run by Wesley K. Clark, a retired American general and a former NATO supreme allied commander. But instead of helping wrest Haiti back from gangs, the operation collapsed. The American team was forced to leave early, a cache of AR-15-style rifles was stolen and seven months ago, two people working with the team — including Mr. Jacquet — were abducted, remain missing and are most likely dead. Suspicion has focused on corrupt police officers, according to two high-ranking Haitian police officials. The aborted Studebaker mission — and the abductions and possible killings of a police officer, Steeve Duroseau, and his Haitian American cousin, Mr. Jacquet, an assistant hotel manager in Haiti who worked with Studebaker — underscores the complicated risks of private military contract work in a country where graft, killings and kidnappings are rampant. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/americans-kidnapped-haiti-gangs-studebaker.html
Additional articles from previous couple of weeks that may be of interest:
Explosive Drone and Air Support Deployed in Kenscoff Anti-Gang Operation
Kenscoff: Kidnapping and vandalism in the residences of Mevs and Vorbe
Haiti gangs’ expansion, human-rights violations, threaten whole Caribbean, UN warns
One killed as gangs torch police station in Haiti’s Artibonite town, Marchand-Dessalines
Deadly Gang Attack in Liancourt: Three Officers Killed, Armored Vehicle Torched
Artibonite: At least seven dead and several injured in an attack by the Kokorat San Ras gang
UN extends political mission in Haiti, but it will be for less than a year
At Nègès Mawon’s 8th festival, women question their absence in Haiti’s power structure
New southern Haiti seaport, renovated airport spark Haitian trade mission to Miami
OPINION/ANALYSIS
If Haiti has become more violent, why end Haitians’ temporary protected status in the U.S.?
Nathalye Cotrino, senior Americas researcher at Human Rights Watch in the LA Times
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced last month that temporary protected status for about 500,000 Haitians would end Sept. 2, five months earlier than planned. The Trump administration has cited flawed and contradictory assessments of conditions in Haiti — which, make no mistake, remains unsafe. Although a U.S. district court halted the action — at least temporarily — and reinstated the original termination date of Feb. 3, the administration is likely to challenge the ruling. The outcome of such a challenge could hinge on whether the courts receive and believe an accurate representation of current events in Haiti. The administration asserts that “overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety.” Nothing could be further from the truth. But few outsiders are entering and leaving the country lately, so the truth can be hard to ascertain.
In late April and early May, as a researcher for Human Rights Watch, I traveled to the northern city of Cap-Haïtien. For the first time in the several years I have been working in Haiti, violence kept me from reaching the capital, Port-au-Prince, where the airport remains under a Federal Aviation Administration ban since November when gangs shot Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines passenger jets in flight. In Cap-Haïtien, I spoke with dozens of people who fled the capital and other towns in recent months. Many shared accounts of killings, injuries from stray bullets and gang rapes by criminal group members. “We were walking toward school when we saw the bandits shooting at houses, at people, at everything that moved,” a 27-year-old woman, a student from Port-au-Prince, told me. “We started to run back, but that’s when [my sister] Guerline fell face down. She was shot in the back of the head, then I saw [my cousin] Alice shot in the chest.” The student crawled under a car, where she hid for hours. She fled the capital in early January.
This rampant violence is precisely the sort of conditions Congress had in mind when it passed the temporary protected status law in 1990. It recognized a gap in protection for situations in which a person might not be able to establish that they have been targeted for persecution on the basis of their beliefs or identity — the standard for permanent asylum claims — but rather when a person’s life is at real risk because of high levels of generalized violence that make it too dangerous for anyone to be returned to the place. When an administration grants this designation, it does so for a defined period, which can be extended based on conditions in the recipients’ home country. For instance, protected status for people from Somalia was first designated in 1991 and has been extended repeatedly, most recently through March 17, 2026.
Almost 1.3 million people are internally displaced in Haiti. They flee increasing violence by criminal groups that killed more than 5,600 people in 2024 — 23% more than in 2023. Some analysts say the country has the highest homicide rate in the world. Criminal groups control nearly 90% of the capital and have expanded into other places. Perversely, the Department of Homeland Security publicly concedes this reality, citing in a Federal Register notification “widespread gang violence” as a reason for terminating temporary protected status. The government argues that a “breakdown in governance” makes Haiti unable to control migration, and so a continued designation to protect people from there would not be in the “national interests” of the United States. Even judging on that criterion alone, revoking the legal status of Haitians in the U.S. is a bad idea. Sending half a million people into Haiti would be highly destabilizing and counter to U.S. interests — not to mention that their lives would be at risk.
The Trump administration has taken no meaningful action to improve Haiti’s situation. The Kenya-led multinational security support mission, authorized by the U.N. Security Council and initially backed by the United States, has been on the ground for a year. Yet because of severe shortages of personnel, resources and funding, it has failed to provide the support the Haitian police desperately need. In late February, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres recommended steps to strengthen the mission, but the Security Council has yet to act. The humanitarian situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate. An estimated 6 million people need humanitarian assistance. Nearly 5.7 million face acute hunger.
On June 26, just one day before Homeland Security’s attempt to end Haitians’ protected status prematurely, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau described the ongoing crisis in Haiti as “disheartening.” He said that “public order has all but collapsed” as “Haiti descends into chaos.” Two days earlier, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti issued a security alert urging U.S. citizens in the country to “depart as soon as possible.” These are not indications that “country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety,” as Homeland Security claimed on June 27. The decision to prematurely end temporary protected status is utterly disconnected from reality. The Trump administration itself has warned that Haiti remains dangerous — and if anything has become more so in recent months. The U.S. government should continue to protect Haitians now living in the United States from being thrown into the brutal violence unfolding in their home country.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-07-18/haiti-violence-temporary-protected-status
A strategic tool in criminal hands: The weaponization of displacement by gangs in Haiti should be a warning flare to the international community
Romain Le-Cour-Grandmaison, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
In 2024, crime-related violence triggered the displacement of at least 1.2 million people globally – more than twice the number recorded in the previous year. In a report to the Human Rights Council in June 2025, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur, warned of the growing role of organized crime as a catalyst for internal displacement worldwide and as a source of serious human rights violations. Haiti has emerged as the epicentre of this crisis. The country accounted for approximately three-quarters of all crime-induced displacement in 2024, reflecting the scale and severity of gang-driven security, political and humanitarian collapse currently underway. The situation has continued to deteriorate in 2025. As of July, over 1.3 million people have been internally displaced in the country, an increase of at least 24% since January.
The situation in Haiti is a prime example of how organized crime can systematically drive displacement and transform it into a mechanism of territorial and social control. Displacement in Haiti is not a collateral consequence of insecurity. Rather, it is a calculated component of armed criminal governance – a mechanism for control and domination. Organized crime remains too often overlooked as a driver of forced displacement. Confronting this reality demands a fundamental shift in how displacement is conceptualized, and how protection strategies, mandates and response mechanisms are formulated. The Haitian case underscores the extent to which criminal actors shape conflict dynamics and humanitarian conditions, requiring stakeholders to adapt frameworks and interventions accordingly.
Forced displacement as a tool of control
The patterns of internal displacement in Haiti are complex and go far beyond civilians fleeing clashes or seeking to escape generalized violence. Internally displaced persons, particularly women, children and young people, have particular vulnerabilities when criminal groups control territory. Sexual and gender-based violence and coercive control are widespread and are often used as tools of subjugation. Young boys, in particular, are targeted for forced recruitment by criminal groups, putting them at risk of becoming both victims and vectors of violence. The trauma and loss of protection associated with displacement make these populations especially susceptible to exploitation, trafficking and cycles of criminalization. Thousands of families have experienced multiple displacements over the course of just days or weeks (particularly in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area) during periods of intensified violence linked to gang territorial expansion. Such was the case during offensives in the Delmas and Solino neighbourhoods in October and December 2024.
Moreover, criminal groups are increasingly using displacement as a strategy to assert territorial and social control. According to research conducted by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), this approach is implemented by gangs in three distinct but interconnected phases. The first phase is conquering, characterized by large-scale attacks, including massacres, arson and mass shootings. The aim is to remove both state presence and community resistance. Through forced displacement, gangs are able to establish strategic buffer zones (depopulated and often devastated areas positioned between their strongholds and territories controlled by state forces), providing protection against potential security operations. On 3 July 2025, for example, gang attacks in the area between Mirebalais and Lascahobas, about 30 kilometres from the border with the Dominican Republic, led to the displacement of nearly 30 000 people in just a few days.
Displacement – sometimes occurring within the same neighbourhood or commune, and thus failing to free populations from gang control – tends to be gradual yet persistent, driven by worsening living conditions and social fragmentation. In areas not fully destroyed, gangs may encourage the return of displaced populations to consolidate control. Despite the devastation, the potential loss of housing and the pressures of living under criminal rule, some residents may still choose to return to the areas they had previously fled. Communities in strategic areas such as transport corridors, markets, agricultural zones and water sources – in the Artibonite and the Centre departments, for example – are dispersed under threat of violence and then selectively repopulated on the gangs’ terms.
Finally, a phase of consolidation often follows, during which the return of the population enables gangs to reinforce territorial governance, impose extra-legal systems of taxation, and assert control over humanitarian access, justice and basic service provision. The remaining population is subjected to systematic coercion, including selective killings, sexual violence, the destruction of public infrastructure and manipulation of aid distribution. While displacement tends to slow, it may continue in a more targeted manner – through the selective expulsion of certain families, for example – aimed at neutralizing dissent and reinforcing compliance. In some instances, according to interviews conducted by the GI-TOC, civilians have been used as human shields, particularly since March 2025, following the Haitian government’s use of drones against gang-controlled areas. This dynamic could also lead to a resurgence of kidnappings, particularly in Port-au-Prince, for the purpose of protection but also as a bargaining chip between gangs and the government.
Throughout this process, displacement is instrumentalized as a tool used to manipulate economic flows, exert political control and manage demographics, a dynamic that must be taken into account in the long term, particularly in the event of general elections. This cycle of violent expulsion, multiple waves of displacement and potential, selective reintegration fractures social cohesion and trust.
Moving beyond traditional approaches
Despite their public statements, the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council, the interim body that exercises the functions of the presidential office until a new president is elected, and the government of Prime Minister Fils-Aimé have yet to implement an effective strategy to address the situation of internally displaced persons. It is of the utmost urgency that the Haitian authorities treat the protection and resettlement of internally displaced persons as a national priority, by developing a comprehensive strategy to address the instrumentalization of population displacement by armed groups, while also accounting for the potential risk of criminal infiltration or exploitation in the management of existing and future displacement camps. Betancur’s report calls for renewed international attention and urgent reforms to existing protection frameworks to address this escalating global threat. It emphasizes that Haiti is not an isolated case, but rather a warning sign, underscoring the broader regional and international implications of crime-induced displacement. Tackling this crisis will need a wholesale review of the current approaches. Political, humanitarian, development and security stakeholders must unite around a shared understanding of how organized crime operates and the human rights violations it perpetuates, including forced displacement.
https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/the-weaponization-of-displacement-by-gangs-in-haiti/
TAKE ACTION: Organizational Sign-On Letters
The Congressional sign-on letter to Secretaries Rubio and Noem about stopping the flow of illicit weapons from the US to Haiti was sent to them on Friday, August 1st with 32 signatures (https://quixote.org/files/letter_to_secretary_noem_and_secretary_rubio_on_haiti_arms_trafficking_8.1.25.pdf) In support of the letter, organizations are invited to sign on to a similar letter. Here is the link to the sign on form, which includes a link to the letter. The deadline is August 17 to sign on.
Organizations are also invited to sign onto this open letter about the rights of women and girls to the incoming President of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, Laurent Saint-Cyr: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RnapSkjce-ePOhW4W3f3VevQ8ba8cawGIgQmBXns-Cw/edit?tab=t.0
Signatures should be submitted to sasha@ijdh.org.