US deportations to Haiti as displacement reaches 1.5 million.
United States immigration authorities have increased deportation flights to Haiti as the country’s humanitarian and security crisis continues to spread beyond Port-au-Prince. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) increased deportation flights from about one flight a month to five consecutive weekly flights to Cap-Haïtien between August 20 and September 17, carrying 474 people. A sixth deportation flight on September 24 brought the reported total number of people returned since the end of TPS to 529. At the same time, nearly 1.5 million people have been internally displaced across Haiti, with approximately 80 percent now living outside Port-au-Prince.
The returns follow the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals on July 27, 2026, after a June 25, 2026, ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the termination to proceed. The decision ended protections that had previously covered an estimated 330,000 Haitians. Many returnees had lived in the United States for years. Interviews with 44 deportees found that people had spent between two and 14 years in the United States, while most said they had fled Haiti’s worsening security and humanitarian conditions before settling in the United States. Most people interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had also filed asylum claims, with some reporting that their cases were still pending when they were removed. Several said they had been detained before TPS formally ended and were unable to contact their lawyers or appear before an immigration judge before their deportation.
The conditions awaiting returnees are unfolding amid a rapidly deteriorating security situation. Armed gangs have near-total control over Port-au-Prince and have expanded into rural areas. Displacement in Artibonite increased between May and August 2026 as insecurity intensified and safe options became more limited, while recent attacks around Kenscoff displaced more than 4,000 people, with reports of severe violence and destruction. Cap-Haïtien has become the only viable point of entry for deportation flights because criminal groups have made Port-au-Prince airport unsafe. The city itself is under significant pressure, with 50,648 internally displaced people recorded there by May 2026.
Local reception infrastructure faces immediate operational challenges under the weight of these weekly arrivals. Passenger manifests provided by U.S. authorities for the two flights examined did not accurately match the actual number of arrivals, complicating reception planning. In its Round 13 assessment, covering March 14 to May 17, 2026, IOM recorded 1,466,862 internally displaced people across Haiti. 1,466,862 people were internally displaced across Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living in informal settlements, collective sites or other precarious conditions. In Cap-Haïtien, limited electricity, water, healthcare and housing place additional pressure on a city already receiving people displaced by violence. Returnees receive a meal, a drink and at least 10,000 Haitian gourdes in cash, but sustained shelter, healthcare, safe transportation and reintegration support remain limited.
The situation raises questions about the safeguards applicable to people returned to a country facing widespread insecurity and humanitarian need. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has called for international protection where substantial grounds indicate that return could expose individuals to serious risks to their life or personal integrity, stressing that deportations must be individually assessed, comply with due process and provide access to effective remedy. At the same time, the U.S. Department of State maintains a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti, citing crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest and limited healthcare. As deportation flights continue, these conditions form the broader context in which the safety and humanitarian circumstances of returnees must be considered.
written by Ilenia Perreca
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