SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 31, CMC – The San Diego-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) has condemned the reported deportation of approximately 140 Haitians from the United States on October 29, calling on the Trump administration to halt removals to the French-speaking Caribbean country amid continuing gang violence and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
HBA Founder and Executive Director Guerline Jozef told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Friday that the deportations were taking place as nearly 1.5 million people remain internally displaced in Haiti and armed groups continue to carry out killings, kidnappings and sexual violence.
Jozef said the security situation was particularly concerning given the presence of foreign military personnel, private security contractors and an internationally authorised security force operating in Haiti.
“The United States cannot acknowledge that Haiti requires thousands of foreign troops, private military contractors and an internationally authorised security force to confront an unprecedented security emergency, while simultaneously pretending that Haiti is safe enough to receive deportees,” she said.
“This is not simply a contradiction in American foreign policy; it is a profound failure of moral leadership and human responsibility.”
Jozef said the US administration had terminated Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation and related employment authorisation, effective July 27, 2026, putting more than 300,000 Haitian nationals at risk of losing those protections.
She said the US House of Representatives passed legislation in April aimed at extending TPS protections for Haitians, while Senators Edward Markey and Lisa Blunt Rochester subsequently introduced legislation in the Senate to renew those protections.
However, she said the Senate had yet to enact legislation safeguarding Haitian families from deportation.
HBA is urging the Senate to pass the proposed legislation and calling on the US Department of Homeland Security to suspend deportations to Haiti and other countries facing humanitarian and security crises.
Jozef also pointed to the US State Department’s Level 4 travel advisory for Haiti, which warns American citizens not to travel to the country, as well as restrictions on the movement of US diplomatic personnel.
“If Haiti is too dangerous for American citizens and diplomatic personnel, the administration must explain why it continues to send Haitian families into those same conditions,” she said.
Jozef said Haitian authorities were struggling to accommodate the growing number of people deported from the United States and had requested additional time and resources to prepare for further returns.
She also recalled that the United States co-sponsored a United Nations Security Council resolution in September 2025 authorising a multinational force of up to 5,550 personnel to address gang violence in Haiti.
“We cannot claim to be restoring security in Haiti while knowingly placing Haitian lives in danger,” Jozef said, calling for an immediate halt to the deportations.
CMC/nk/ed/2026