Haiti's New Center: Welcome Hub for U.S. Deportees

Dr. Geralde Gabeau of the Immigrant Family Services Institute led the effort to open the Centre D’Accueil-Bedrock in Cap-Haïtien. The three-story building overlooks a dirt road in the coastal city and displays the word welcome in several languages. The facility serves Haitian citizens who have been deported from the United States.

Deportees often arrive with little to no personal belongings. The center provides temporary refuge, including meals, a place to sleep, and basic hygiene materials. Gabeau stated that the organization cannot turn its back on individuals who have suffered during their time in U.S. detention centers and their subsequent return to a country they left years ago.

The center opened last Wednesday, one day before a scheduled deportation flight from the United States. The Immigrant Family Services Institute worked with local Haitian partners to establish the facility. Currently, the center can accommodate 56 individuals per night. Staff are seeking additional bunkbeds to increase this capacity.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration could roll back protection for at least 330,000 Haitians nationwide. Temporary protected status officially expired on July 27. This expiration stripped at least 19,000 people in Massachusetts of their status. Those individuals now face the risk of detention and deportation. Last year, additional people lost parole status, rendering them effectively undocumented.

According to the Human Rights Watch’s ICE Flight Monitor, removal flights to Haiti increased from one per month to one per week starting August 20. This change followed the termination of temporary protected status. Washington is currently seeking to expand deportation flights to the capital, Port-au-Prince. Previously, flights to Cap-Haïtien occurred once a week.

Before the center opened, the organization lacked a formal protocol with the local government for transporting deportees. Workers visited the police station where returned immigrants were held. They distributed emergency packages containing toothbrushes, towels, and other basic items to more than 100 individuals. This week, the center will welcome its first group of people in coordination with Haiti’s Office National de la Migration.

Some deported individuals currently receive one night at a local hotel funded by the Haitian government. They must leave by 11 o'clock the next morning, though not everyone can be accommodated. Gabeau described the overcrowding and continued deportations in Cap-Haïtien as adding gasoline to a fire. She noted that the city, the nation's second largest, previously lacked infrastructure for these returning citizens.

Dr. Guerda Nicolas, a clinical psychologist at the University of Miami, co-founded the mental health nonprofit Rebati Sante Mentale. She visited Haiti with Gabeau last week. Nicolas met several people from the previous week's deportation flight, including a blind elderly man, a person with bipolar disorder in a mental health crisis, and a young man who had been in the U.S. foster care system and had not been in Haiti since age two.

Caseworkers at the center help deportees reacclimate to the country. They provide information on safe areas in the capital, which is currently run by gangs. Many deportees arrive without cellphones, making it difficult to contact family or friends. The center provides access to a psychologist for those who need support. A coalition of partners, including Ayiti Home Link and the Fondation Alfred Beliard, supports the center. Gabeau said the project has cost at least $100,000.