Haiti’s Office of National Migration said it was informed by U.S. authorities to expect the arrival of 74 Haitians aboard an Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight in Cap-Haïtien shortly before noon on Thursday.
In the end, 52 arrived aboard the plane, which left Alexandria, Louisiana and made a stop in Miami before landing in the northern Haiti city. "The resumption of deportation flights to Haiti is beyond belief. At least beliefs that embrace compassion and humanity," said Tom Cartwright, an independent volunteer analyst who tracks ICE deportation flights and was the first to spot the Haiti-bound U.S. government charter. Randolph McGrorty, executive director of Catholic Legal Services in Miami, was surprised as well. "It is simply cruel to deport individuals to Haiti at this time," he said. "I am very concerned that we are are not following the law and our international obligations by adequately assessing asylum concerns and basic humanitarian principles."
Among those deported was Gerson Joseph, a Florida resident for more than 20 years who is engaged to be married and has a daughter who is a U.S. citizen. Joseph, who turns 40 next week, called his lawyer, Philip Issa, on Wednesday informing him that an officer at the Krome Detention Center in southwest Miami-Dade, where he had been detained since November, informed him he would be deported in the morning. "He should not have been considered what they call an enforcement priority," said Issa, an attorney with Americans for Immigrant Justice in Miami.