U.S., Cuba and Bahamas Repatriated 10,000 Haitians Last Month
U.S., Cuba and Bahamas Repatriated 10,000 Haitians Last Month
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and its neighbors repatriated thousands of Haitians over the last month as the violent turmoil and poverty afflicting the Caribbean nation fuels a migration crisis across the region.
In a report released Wednesday, the International Organization of Migration, or IOM, said it provided assistance to 10,831 returned Haitian migrants from September 19 through October 19. Of those, 7,915 -- or 75% -- were deported from the U.S., followed by 1,194 from Cuba, 1,031 from the Bahamas, 248 from Mexico and 37 from Turks and Caicos. In addition, 406 were picked up at sea, the IOM said.
Most of the migrants returned from the U.S. had been living in Chile and Brazil -- often for years -- before the pandemic and changing work requirements forced them to trek northward, the IOM said. Among those repatriated in the last month were 500 children who had been born abroad, including 404 from Chile, 84 from Brazil and six from Venezuela.
Other returnees “started their journey more recently, particularly at routes by sea, motivated by various factors such as lack of income or job opportunities, insufficient access to services for them and their family, the 14 August earthquake, insecurity, and political instability,” the organization said.
Haiti’s migration crisis has been in the spotlight since some 15,000 people gathered at an improvised camp along the Mexico-Texas border last month.
Haiti, the poorest nation in the hemisphere, has been seized by violence and political instability in the wake of the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. On Saturday, a gang kidnapped 17 U.S. and Canadian missionaries on the outskirts of the capital.
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