Latest news with #Port-au-Prince
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US set to deport permanent residents over alleged support to Haitian gang leaders
By Daphne Psaledakis and Ted Hesson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday paved the way for the United States to deport certain lawful permanent residents, saying Washington determined some had supported Haitian gang leaders connected to a U.S.-designated "terrorist" organization. Rubio in a statement said certain U.S. lawful permanent residents had supported and collaborated with gang leaders tied to Viv Ansanm, the armed alliance that controls most of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, which President Donald Trump's administration labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization in May. Following the determination, the Department of Homeland Security can pursue the deportation of the lawful permanent residents, also known as green-card holders, Rubio added. It was unclear how many people could be targeted for deportation, and no individuals were named in his statement. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said late on Monday that its Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Pierre Reginald Boulos, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. and citizen of Haiti, over alleged engagement in violence and contribution to "destabilization of Haiti." The Miami Herald described Boulos, 69, as "an influential Haitian businessman and controversial political powerbroker" who was an American-born entrepreneur and physician. The move by Rubio comes as the Trump administration has sought to ramp up deportations as part of its wide-ranging efforts to fulfill the president's hardline immigration agenda, with the secretary of state making unprecedented use of his power to try to revoke the visas and green cards of pro-Palestinian student protesters. "The United States will not allow individuals to enjoy the benefits of legal status in our country while they are facilitating the actions of violent organizations or supporting criminal terrorist organizations," Rubio said on Monday. Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired immigration law professor at Cornell University, said that prior to this Trump administration, trying to take away someone's permanent-resident status in this manner was "very rare" but that the administration had shown a willingness to target students. He said it seemed unlikely that many Haitians would have their green card revoked as a result of the policy because of the difficulty of identifying them and then proving the affiliation in immigration court. "Three years from now, how many people from Haiti will be deported under this ground? I think very few," he said. Haiti's transitional government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Almost 5,000 people have been killed in Haiti between October 2024 and June 2025 amid worsening gang violence nationwide, according to a U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights report. IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN The surge in violence is deepening Haiti's humanitarian crisis, destabilizing the country and raising concerns of spillover effects in the region. The gang conflict in Haiti has been met with little international response, while neighboring countries, including the U.S., have continued to deport migrants back to the Caribbean nation despite pleas by the United Nations to stop the practice, citing humanitarian concerns. Trump has taken several steps to strip deportation relief and work permits from Haitians in the U.S., although a federal judge earlier this month blocked an attempt to end Temporary Protected Status for more than half a million Haitians. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump falsely said during a debate that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people's pets. Washington's designation of Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as terrorist groups followed similar measures made recently for Latin American drug cartels and was intended to isolate the groups, denying them access to financing from U.S. people or companies.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘The ground shook': drone attacks help Haitian government wrest control of capital from criminal gangs
The earth beneath Jimmy Antoine's apartment shuddered and for a split second he feared another natural disaster had struck, like the 2010 cataclysm that brought Port-au-Prince to its knees. 'The ground shook like it does during an earthquake. You tremble like everything might collapse,' said the 23-year-old trainee mechanic, recalling how he and his panicked neighbours raced out on to the street. This time, though, the jolt had come not from deep below, but from high above: it was the detonation of a weaponized drone of the sort being used to hunt Haitian gang members who have hijacked most of the country's capital since the start of a coordinated criminal insurrection early last year. 'People had told me about drones … but this one caught me off guard … It felt like it exploded right where I was standing,' said Antoine of the 6am attack last month near Sico, the working-class neighbourhood where he lives. As Haiti's beleaguered government struggles to reconquer a sprawling seaside city now almost entirely controlled by the gangs, armed drones have become a key part of their arsenal. Since the drone campaign began in March, at least 300 people have been killed by the remote-control devices and almost 400 injured, according to a local human rights group called RNDDH. Videos of those attacks have spread rapidly on social media, painting a terrifying portrait of the drone warfare unfolding on the streets of one of the Caribbean's largest cities. One such video, which the Guardian identified as having taken place in a gang-run area called Fort National, shows four people – at least two of them armed – moving through an alley before being hit from above by an explosion. Blue and white smoke fills the backstreet as the men scatter. Another clip, posted on social media by a US missionary, shows an attack on an evangelical theological seminary about 2 miles south-west of Fort National, not far from Jimmy Antoine's home. At least one person can be seen sprinting for cover as the drone swoops towards its second-floor target and explodes. 'I have fond memories of teaching in the very classroom it struck,' Luke Perkins, the president of the missionary group Crossworld, tweeted in mid-June. Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the drones used in Port-au-Prince appeared to be first-person-view (FPV) drones. Images of one such improvised weapon were shared on social media in March, reputedly from the aftermath of a police raid on a gang stronghold in the Lower Delmas area. The Guardian was able to identify this model of FPV drone, and found it being sold on Chinese e-commerce sites for about $200, making them relatively cheap and expendable. Ball said it was not possible to determine from the images the exact munitions being used but it was likely the drones had either been fitted with explosives intended for commercial mining, or black powder – a homemade mix of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur that is used in fireworks. 'These tactics are used in other parts of the world, especially in the Ukraine-Russia war. Using first-person-view drones to deliver explosive devices has become extremely common there, and has been seen in other conflicts as well,' Bell added. One other video that surfaced earlier this year showed a targeted drone strike on a moving car less than 500 metres (547 yards) away from the compound believed to belong to Johnson André, a notorious gang boss known by the nickname 'Izo' whose gang is called 5 Segonn ('Five Seconds'). The car was driving near waterways reportedly used for drug and gun trafficking by the gangs. The provenance of the online drone videos remains unclear but many suspect at least some of them are being produced and released by a shadowy government-recruited armed group which has been enlisted to bolster the counterattack against the gangs. The aerial videos generally depict 'action shots' or the moment the drone strikes on a target, often edited and set to energetic music. Last month the New York Times, citing senior Haitian and US government officials, reported that the controversial Blackwater founder Erik Prince had been working with the Haitian government 'to carry out deadly operations against gangs that are terrorizing the nation and threatening to take over its capital'. The newspaper claimed American contractors, including Prince, had been hired 'to work on a secret taskforce to deploy drones meant to kill gang members'. Two experts said Prince had recently shipped 'a large cache of weapons' to Haiti and was seeking to recruit Haitian American military veterans to send to Port-au-Prince as part of a 150-strong mercenary force over the coming months. Earlier this month, Fritz Alphonse Jean, the head of the transitional council that has attempted to govern Haiti since its prime minister, Ariel Henry, was toppled early in the gang rebellion, confirmed that a private security firm had been engaged by the government. But he declined to name it or say how it was being paid. Jean argued it was impossible for Haiti's underequipped and underfunded police to 'face these challenges alone'. Perhaps surprisingly, Haitian human rights activists have backed the use of drone warfare to target criminal groups who have forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes and killed thousands. A UN-backed international security force, led by Kenyan police officers, has so far failed to repel the criminal advance. 'For us … drones are entirely proportionate to the level of weaponry the gangs possess,' said Rosy Auguste Ducéna, a respected human rights advocate who works for RNDDH in Port-au-Prince. Ducéna said her group supported such strikes against gang strongholds. 'Why? Because we consider the sophistication of the weapons in the gangs' hands, how those weapons are used to inflict suffering on the rest of the population – the crimes we know about: killings, thefts, rape, gang-rape, the burning of people's entire belongings,' she said. Ducéna thought drones were 'instilling fear' in heavily armed gang members and appeared to have such criminals on the back foot. 'We cannot dismiss the fact that these operations are having an impact on them. The element of uncertainty is also very important. The gangs don't necessarily know when or where a strike will happen, and we believe that's one reason for the drop in gang activity we're currently seeing,' she said, describing how the fear that has gripped her city's streets was gradually subsiding. 'Many banks have reopened, and many schools are open again. There is no longer the same tension as during the height of the insecurity … There is a glimmer of hope,' said Ducéna, although she voiced concern that the taskforce coordinating the drone attacks was being led by the office of the prime minister, Alix Fils-Aimé, rather than security officials. 'We believe [this is] extremely dangerous for democracy. A political authority should not be leading a team conducting this type of operation,' Ducéna said. Foreign human rights activists and specialists question the efficacy – not to mention legality – of using weaponized drones in a country which, despite all the bloodshed, is not officially considered to be in a state of conflict. 'I don't think it works. They haven't killed a single gang leader after three, going on four months of doing this, and we don't know how many civilians have been harmed,' said one expert, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. 'It just shows how absolutely desperate the government and the police [are].' 'I think it's a sign of desperation … It shows how desperate people are to have some sign that … something can be done to stop [the gangs]. That's really what it is all about,' they added, fretting that gang leaders might adopt the same tactics, exacerbating an already dire situation. 'What if they [the gangs] start shooting off drones? The escalation factor is also very worrying.' Earlier this month there were signs that gangs were already seeking to build their own arsenal of drones when three alleged 'terrorists' were arrested in the neighbouring Dominican Republic trying to buy the devices. In recent years both Mexican cartels and drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro have started using armed drones to launch attacks on authorities or rivals. On the ground in Port-au-Prince, many offer a more positive assessment of the aerial offensive. Last month, Belony Jassé, an 18-year-old high school student who said he heard drone explosions 'all the time', finally managed to return to the home that gangs once forced her to flee after security improved. The sound of drone attacks terrified the algebra-loving teenager. 'It makes you jump. It's scary. You don't expect the noise. You might drop whatever you're holding. The sound is very loud. It breaks your heart, it takes time to recover. It's heavy,' he said. But Jassé credited those attacks – coupled with an intensification of ground operations by police and vigilante groups – with the recent progress in his neighbourhood. 'I don't hear much gunfire any more. Last night I hardly heard any shots … This week I haven't heard any gunfire at all,' he said. The situation remained critical, Jassé admitted. 'But compared to how it was, I'm not scared any more.'
Washington Post
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Haiti's gangs have 'near-total control' of the capital as violence escalates, UN says
UNITED NATIONS — Haiti's gangs have gained 'near-total control' of the capital and authorities are unable to stop escalating violence across the impoverished Caribbean nation, senior U.N. officials warned Wednesday. An estimated 90% of the capital Port-au-Prince is now under control of criminal groups who are expanding attacks not only into surrounding areas but beyond into previously peaceful areas, Ghada Fathy Waly, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the U.N. Security Council.
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘The ground shook': drone attacks help Haitian government wrest control of capital from criminal gangs
The earth beneath Jimmy Antoine's apartment shuddered and for a split second he feared another natural disaster had struck, like the 2010 cataclysm that brought Port-au-Prince to its knees. 'The ground shook like it does during an earthquake. You tremble like everything might collapse,' said the 23-year-old trainee mechanic, recalling how he and his panicked neighbours raced out on to the street. This time, though, the jolt had come not from deep below, but from high above: it was the detonation of a weaponized drone of the sort being used to hunt Haitian gang members who have hijacked most of the country's capital since the start of a coordinated criminal insurrection early last year. 'People had told me about drones … but this one caught me off guard … It felt like it exploded right where I was standing,' said Antoine of the 6am attack last month near Sico, the working-class neighbourhood where he lives. As Haiti's beleaguered government struggles to reconquer a sprawling seaside city now almost entirely controlled by the gangs, armed drones have become a key part of their arsenal. Since the drone campaign began in March, at least 300 people have been killed by the remote-control devices and almost 400 injured, according to a local human rights group called RNDDH. Videos of those attacks have spread rapidly on social media, painting a terrifying portrait of the drone warfare unfolding on the streets of one of the Caribbean's largest cities. One such video, which the Guardian identified as having taken place in a gang-run area called Fort National, shows four people – at least two of them armed – moving through an alley before being hit from above by an explosion. Blue and white smoke fills the backstreet as the men scatter. Another clip, posted on social media by a US missionary, shows an attack on an evangelical theological seminary about 2 miles south-west of Fort National, not far from Jimmy Antoine's home. At least one person can be seen sprinting for cover as the drone swoops towards its second-floor target and explodes. 'I have fond memories of teaching in the very classroom it struck,' Luke Perkins, the president of the missionary group Crossworld, tweeted in mid-June. Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the drones used in Port-au-Prince appeared to be first-person-view (FPV) drones. Images of one such improvised weapon were shared on social media in March, reputedly from the aftermath of a police raid on a gang stronghold in the Lower Delmas area. The Guardian was able to identify this model of FPV drone, and found it being sold on Chinese e-commerce sites for about $200, making them relatively cheap and expendable. Ball said it was not possible to determine from the images the exact munitions being used but it was likely the drones had either been fitted with explosives intended for commercial mining, or black powder – a homemade mix of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur that is used in fireworks. 'These tactics are used in other parts of the world, especially in the Ukraine-Russia war. Using first-person-view drones to deliver explosive devices has become extremely common there, and has been seen in other conflicts as well,' Bell added. One other video that surfaced earlier this year showed a targeted drone strike on a moving car less than 500 metres (547 yards) away from the compound believed to belong to Johnson André, a notorious gang boss known by the nickname 'Izo' whose gang is called 5 Segonn ('Five Seconds'). The car was driving near waterways reportedly used for drug and gun trafficking by the gangs. The provenance of the online drone videos remains unclear but many suspect at least some of them are being produced and released by a shadowy government-recruited armed group which has been enlisted to bolster the counterattack against the gangs. The aerial videos generally depict 'action shots' or the moment the drone strikes on a target, often edited and set to energetic music. Last month the New York Times, citing senior Haitian and US government officials, reported that the controversial Blackwater founder Erik Prince had been working with the Haitian government 'to carry out deadly operations against gangs that are terrorizing the nation and threatening to take over its capital'. The newspaper claimed American contractors, including Prince, had been hired 'to work on a secret taskforce to deploy drones meant to kill gang members'. Two experts said Prince had recently shipped 'a large cache of weapons' to Haiti and was seeking to recruit Haitian American military veterans to send to Port-au-Prince as part of a 150-strong mercenary force over the coming months. Earlier this month, Fritz Alphonse Jean, the head of the transitional council that has attempted to govern Haiti since its prime minister, Ariel Henry, was toppled early in the gang rebellion, confirmed that a private security firm had been engaged by the government. But he declined to name it or say how it was being paid. Jean argued it was impossible for Haiti's underequipped and underfunded police to 'face these challenges alone'. Perhaps surprisingly, Haitian human rights activists have backed the use of drone warfare to target criminal groups who have forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes and killed thousands. A UN-backed international security force, led by Kenyan police officers, has so far failed to repel the criminal advance. 'For us … drones are entirely proportionate to the level of weaponry the gangs possess,' said Rosy Auguste Ducéna, a respected human rights advocate who works for RNDDH in Port-au-Prince. Ducéna said her group supported such strikes against gang strongholds. 'Why? Because we consider the sophistication of the weapons in the gangs' hands, how those weapons are used to inflict suffering on the rest of the population – the crimes we know about: killings, thefts, rape, gang-rape, the burning of people's entire belongings,' she said. Ducéna thought drones were 'instilling fear' in heavily armed gang members and appeared to have such criminals on the back foot. 'We cannot dismiss the fact that these operations are having an impact on them. The element of uncertainty is also very important. The gangs don't necessarily know when or where a strike will happen, and we believe that's one reason for the drop in gang activity we're currently seeing,' she said, describing how the fear that has gripped her city's streets was gradually subsiding. 'Many banks have reopened, and many schools are open again. There is no longer the same tension as during the height of the insecurity … There is a glimmer of hope,' said Ducéna, although she voiced concern that the taskforce coordinating the drone attacks was being led by the office of the prime minister, Alix Fils-Aimé, rather than security officials. 'We believe [this is] extremely dangerous for democracy. A political authority should not be leading a team conducting this type of operation,' Ducéna said. Foreign human rights activists and specialists question the efficacy – not to mention legality – of using weaponized drones in a country which, despite all the bloodshed, is not officially considered to be in a state of conflict. 'I don't think it works. They haven't killed a single gang leader after three, going on four months of doing this, and we don't know how many civilians have been harmed,' said one expert, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. 'It just shows how absolutely desperate the government and the police [are].' 'I think it's a sign of desperation … It shows how desperate people are to have some sign that … something can be done to stop [the gangs]. That's really what it is all about,' they added, fretting that gang leaders might adopt the same tactics, exacerbating an already dire situation. 'What if they [the gangs] start shooting off drones? The escalation factor is also very worrying.' Earlier this month there were signs that gangs were already seeking to build their own arsenal of drones when three alleged 'terrorists' were arrested in the neighbouring Dominican Republic trying to buy the devices. In recent years both Mexican cartels and drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro have started using armed drones to launch attacks on authorities or rivals. On the ground in Port-au-Prince, many offer a more positive assessment of the aerial offensive. Last month, Belony Jassé, an 18-year-old high school student who said he heard drone explosions 'all the time', finally managed to return to the home that gangs once forced her to flee after security improved. The sound of drone attacks terrified the algebra-loving teenager. 'It makes you jump. It's scary. You don't expect the noise. You might drop whatever you're holding. The sound is very loud. It breaks your heart, it takes time to recover. It's heavy,' he said. But Jassé credited those attacks – coupled with an intensification of ground operations by police and vigilante groups – with the recent progress in his neighbourhood. 'I don't hear much gunfire any more. Last night I hardly heard any shots … This week I haven't heard any gunfire at all,' he said. The situation remained critical, Jassé admitted. 'But compared to how it was, I'm not scared any more.'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Haitians face deportation to a country devastated by violence and famine
People living and working in Haiti are questioning the Trump administration's reasoning that it is safe enough for Haitians temporarily living in the U.S. to return to their embattled country of origin. The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that it will end Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Haitian people living in the United States legally. 'How can DHS send 500,000 Haitians back to a country that is the most dangerous country in the world?' Len Gengel, who runs a nonprofit organization in Haiti that helps orphaned children, told NBC News. 'It's crazy. It's a war zone.' DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's announcement was the latest effort by President Donald Trump and his administration to accelerate deportations for Haitian immigrants living in the country. The TPS program was created in 1990 to provide people in disaster-stricken countries to find legal, short-term refuge in the United States. Its abrupt end means deportation for immigrants of 17 other countries, too, including Sudan, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Haitians are expecte to leave by September 2 More than 1,800 people were kidnapped and 8,200 killed in Haiti since gang violence escalated in March of last year; a record 1.3 million people are currently homeless, according to the United Nations. Armed gangs seized control over much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021.. Since Moïse's assasination, the country has been in relentless turmoil, with no discernable government, as it endures extreme violence, hunger and homelessness. According to a recent report from the International Organization for Migration, there has been a 24% increase in displaced people in the last six months, with 11% of Haiti's nearly 12 million residents chased out of their homes by gunmen. In fact, the State Department's 2024 advisory for Haiti remains in effect, warning Americans not to travel to the country due to 'kidnapping, crime, civil unrest and limited health care.' Still, the Trump administration expects Haitians to return to their home country in about two months. 'The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home,' a DHS spokesperson said in a statement last week. There was no mention of how conditions have improved. NBC News' request for additional comment went unanswered. In a news conference Monday,North Miami councilwoman Mary Estimé-Irvin called the decision was 'outright unjust.'. She pointed out that the announcement came days after the U.S. Embassy in Haiti warned Americans to vacate the country immediately due to violence and instability. 'Let's be clear, Haiti is in a crisis,' she said. 'Gang-ruled streets once filled with hope. Schools are shattered, hospitals overwhelmed, families displaced. To say Haiti is safe to return defies facts, reason and morality.' As someone coming in and out of Haiti for 15 years, Gengel said conditions have not improved. 'Seeing this country fall apart is so devastating,' he said. 'People are dying of starvation after years of this gang war.' Gengel and his nonprofit, Be Like Brit Foundation, began his work in Haiti assisting orphans to honor the wishes of his daughter, Britney, who died there at age 19 while providing aid during the devastating earthquake of 2010. The troubles on the island have only gotten worse, leading 500,000 Haitians to seek asylum status in the U.S. in the last 15 years. Gengel began working in the country soon after his daughter's death, after closing his business in Massachusetts to fulfill Britney's wish. To keep the children in his orphanage safe, Gengel said he had to learn how to shoot a firearm and has purchased guns to support the hired security at the Port-au-Prince facility. 'I never shot a gun until I was 60 years old,' he said. 'I've had to learn to shoot and get a gun license. It's like we are in prison.' One of the children Gengel helped in Haiti came to the U.S. under President Biden's administration and obtained temporary protected status. He now works as a bookkeeper but 'they won't renew his work permit,' Gengel said. 'He may have to return to Haiti this summer.' Some have compared Trump's cancellation of the TPS program as a 'death sentence.' 'Deporting people back to these conditions is a death sentence for many, stripping them of their fundamental right to safety and dignity,' said Tessa Pettit, a Haitian American who is executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, to The Associated Press. For three years, Frantz Desir, 36, has been an asylee in the U.S. Now he fears he could be next sent back, he told the AP. 'You see your friends who used to go to work every day, and suddenly — without being sick or fired — they just can't go anymore,' he said, referring to the extreme current conditions in Haiti. 'It hits you. Even if it hasn't happened to you yet, you start to worry, 'What if it's me next?'' TPS, designed to protect people from troubled countries who fear for their safety, is not a free pass to America, Abigail Desravines told NBC News this year. She came to the U.S. after the earthquake. 'You have to keep renewing, pay fees and live with the fear that it could end at any time,' Desravines said. 'It's not an easy path.' This article was originally published on
