Overview:
On Wednesday, the Trump administration deported 132 Haitians to Cap-Haïtien, including six children. This marks the fourth deportation flight to Haiti under President Donald Trump since he took office in January.
CAP-HAÏTIEN — The United States deported minors to Haiti for the first time during President Donald Trump’s second term, sending six children between the ages of four and 11 to Cap-Haïtien on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
They were part of 132 deportees aboard the largest deportation flight yet from the U.S. to Haiti since Trump returned to office in January, according to Frandy Étienne, one of the regional managers of Haiti’s National Office of Migration (ONM).
“It’s not really logical to deport children,” Étienne said. “They will be traumatized. We will need psychologists to help those children.”
Étienne said the children arrived with their parents, and none of the passengers had been deported for serious crimes. He added, however, that Haitian authorities had not been given details about the specific reasons for their removal. He was unable to say whether the children were born in the U.S. or elsewhere, and how long the deported adults had lived in the country.
Largest flight to date amid concerns and struggle to integrate
This marks the fourth deportation flight to Haiti since Trump began his second term in January. Each flight has carried more passengers than the last: 21 in February, 46 in March, 96 in June and now 132. The steady increase, combined with the unprecedented inclusion of children, has alarmed migration advocates, who say Haiti is in no position to receive deportees amid overlapping crises exacerbated by gang violence, hunger and political instability.
“The state needs to work harder to see how we can reintegrate them into society,” Étienne said.
“Cap-Haïtien is already saturated. Many deportees try to return to their hometowns, but gang violence makes travel [to other areas] nearly impossible. These people often face extreme difficulties.”
ONM typically provides financial assistance to deportees, giving minors and adults the same amount to help with resettlement. Étienne did not specify how much was given to the newcomers on Wednesday.
After landing at Cap-Haïtien’s Hugo Chávez International Airport, deportees were taken to the North Departmental police headquarters for routine checks and paperwork. And they were then released into the capital city of the Northern Department.
The deportation of children has raised new legal and human rights questions. Under U.S. law, American-born children are automatically U.S. citizens. Although it’s not clear as to where these children were born, advocates fear some of the minors deported to Haiti could be U.S.-born citizens improperly expelled alongside their parents.
Such cases have surfaced in previous deportation waves. U.S. immigration lawyers often documented instances where U.S.-citizen children were detained with their parents and threatened with removal to countries where they had no legal ties. Legal experts say deporting U.S.-born children violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship.
In Haiti, where infrastructure and services are already collapsing, local officials warn that receiving deported minors—especially those unfamiliar with the culture or language—poses additional challenges.
The plight of deportees also highlights the obstacles facing Haitians who had long been integrated into U.S. life. In June, 33-year-old William François was one of 96 people deported to Haiti despite having lived in the United States since age three. With little knowledge of Haitian society, he struggled to adjust.
Haiti’s government has not announced plans to assist returnees, even as more deportation flights are expected. The timing of the next flight remains unclear.
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