By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Thurs. Nov. 11, 2021: Since September 19th, more than 11,000 Haitians have been deported from five countries back to Haiti.
That’s according to the International Office of Migration, IOM, teams that are on the ground offering much-needed support to all the migrants returning to Haiti.
Of that number, 8,183 are from the US, the highest number to date according to the IOM data. This was followed by 1,194 from Cuba and 1,031 from the Bahamas.
Some 325 were deported from Mexico; 406 intercepted by the US Coast Guard at sea and returned and 37 returned from the Turks And Caicos Islands.
The IOM data says most, or 56 percent, are men while 25 percent are women. Nineteen percent are children with 10 percent being girls and 9 percent boys.
The news comes as the Biden administration on Wednesday moved to restore Haiti to the list of eligible countries for two guest worker visa programs. This reverses the Trump-era removal due to a large number of overstays and instances of fraud.
In a notice in the Federal Register, the Department of Homeland Security said it is adding Haiti to the list of countries eligible for the H-2A visa program for temporary agricultural workers and H-2B visa program for seasonal non-agricultural worker.
DHS said that adding Haiti to the list will “provide Haitians the opportunity not only to contribute to the U.S. economy, but also apply their earnings and technical experience to advance Haiti’s reconstruction and stabilization.”
