Haitian community leaders in Mass. are concerned about the humiliating situation in their home country

Leaders in Massachusetts’ large Haitian community say they are terrified by the ongoing violence and political unrest in their home country.

Gangs recently opened fire on three planes arriving in Haiti from the United States, leading to a months-long suspension of flights between the two countries by the Federal Aviation Administration. Meanwhile, Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille was removed from office by the country’s transitional council on Monday after just six months in office.

“You have gangs that are allowed to be near the airport and shoot at planes,” said Dr. Geralde Gabeau. ‘So it is complete lawlessness. It’s a total lack of leadership, you know, from around the world.”

Gabeau, originally from Haiti, is executive director of the Immigrant Family Services Institute. The group has assisted thousands of Haitian migrants fleeing the country in recent years. She said they are “very worried” about their loved ones, and she is concerned about that too
her own sister who stays there.

“It’s very alarming at the moment. In fact, this weekend I will be conducting a funeral for a father whose daughter is in Haiti,” said Pastor Dieufort “Keke” Fleurissaint, the founder of True Alliance Center, Inc., a Haitian-led organization. to advocate for the community. The woman is stuck there, he said, and cannot attend her father’s funeral because of the FAA rule.

The federal government has allowed some Haitians to apply for temporary residency in the US while they remain there. Most people who arrive at the border without prior permission to seek asylum are deported.

The federal government has long declared Haiti a country it is unsafe to travel to, and recently the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince
repeated that.

“That’s where the irony is, where they declare that people are not allowed to travel back to Haiti,” said Gabeau of the Immigrant Family Services Institute. “And at the same time, you know, almost every week one, two or three flights bring people back.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about whether it plans to pause deportation flights to Haiti.

Another reason for the concern of the local Haitian community is the fact that violence is being fueled
weapons trafficked from the United States.

Fleurissaint said Haiti itself has no weapons manufacturers in the country, so many of the weapons the gangs use for their violence come from elsewhere.

“All the ammunition that the gangs in Haiti have used to kill their own countrymen comes from the United States,” he said.

Haiti has been experiencing heavy gang activity since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Fleurissaint hopes the US government will intervene.

“I don’t know how the meager police force in Haiti will be able to combat those weapons,” Fleurissaint said.