U.S. Backs Off on Deporting Haitians Infected With COVID-19

Immigration authorities in the United States did an abrupt about-face last month, backing off deporting several Caribbean nationals infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Five Haitians, who were in U.S. detention and scheduled for return to the French-speaking Caribbean nation, were taken off a flight from San Antonio, Texas by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on May 11.

The other 50 passengers, roughly half of the number originally expected to land in Port-au-Prince that day, included 14 children. More than a dozen of the deportees had criminal records. All deportees were quarantined upon arrival in Haiti.

The change-of-mind by ICE resulted from mounting pressure following published reports indicating U.S. intent to send infected Haitians back to the Caribbean.                                

OPPOSITION

Multiple Haitian organizations in the U.S. publicly opposed the deportation of Haitians infected with COVID-19, claiming that would exacerbate the virus outbreak in the Caribbean nation.

Haitian American Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Florida-based Family Action Network Movement, penned an open letter to Jovenel Moise asking Haiti’s president to halt the deportation of Haitians from the U.S.

“This request is desperately urgent,” noted the letter, dated April 21.

Other Caribbean nations have expressed concern over U.S. deportations, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned nations they must accept deportees or face sanctions.U.S. authorities promised not send deportees infected with the virus to the Caribbean. However, at least one country – Jamaica – reported it had received deportees infected with COVID-19 from the U.S.