A video released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) depicting men in restraints boarding a deportation flight to Haiti has caused uproar, with critics accusing the U.S. government of instilling fear in Haitian communities as it increases deportations to the country plagued by violence.
The footage, shared on the social media platform X, shows several Black men escorted onto a plane with their hands and feet bound and linked by chains around their waists. The post accompanying the video stated that “Haiti TPS has been TERMINATED,” referring to the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians in the U.S., emphasizing that those with terminated TPS must leave immediately or face deportation.
TPS is a U.S. designation that grants foreign nationals the ability to reside and work in the U.S. without deportation threats when conditions in their home countries are deemed perilous. Despite concerns raised by legal experts and human rights advocates about the precarious situation in Haiti due to deadly gang violence and instability following the 2021 assassination of then-president Jovenel Moïse, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with the cancellation of TPS for Haitians, affecting over 300,000 individuals in the U.S.
Criticism of the DHS video and the deportation actions has been widespread, with the Florida Democratic Party denouncing the Trump administration’s decision to send Haitian families back to a war-torn nation. Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari also condemned the move, labeling it as one of the worst actions by the Trump regime.
According to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, Haitian communities are living in fear amid the crackdown on Haitian immigrants and the ongoing deportations. The surge in gang violence in Haiti, exacerbated by the power vacuum created after Moïse’s assassination, has left the country in a state of turmoil, leading to a significant number of internally displaced persons and a high toll of casualties.
The U.S. government reportedly plans to escalate deportations to Haiti, increasing the frequency of deportation flights after the cancellation of TPS. The Department of Homeland Security declined to provide details about the deportation flight shown in the video for operational security reasons.
The New York Times reported that around 57 deportees, including children, arrived in Cap Haitien on a recent deportation flight. The Haitian Bridge Alliance expressed the community’s distress over the deportation of individuals who had lost TPS, highlighting the widespread fear among Haitian immigrants in the U.S.