Mayorkas warns that Haitians crossing to U.S. by sea will be returned

Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sat down with McClatchy as part of ‘Beyond the Border,’ a special series on immigration in America, to be published April 9.

Haitians seeking to flee gang violence engulfing the Caribbean nation should avoid journeying by sea to the United States, and will be returned to Haiti if intercepted, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told McClatchy and the Miami Herald in an interview Thursday.

Mayorkas said that Haitians attempting the dangerous voyage have already been repatriated in recent weeks by the U.S. Coast Guard, which on March 12 interdicted 65 Haitians near Great Inagua in the Bahamas.

Haiti’s prime minister stepped aside last month as much of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, fell to gang control.

The Homeland Security secretary also said the Biden administration is not considering a renewal or expansion of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, which has allowed Haitian nationals currently residing in the United States to live and work here due to unsafe conditions in their home country.

“We’re very focused on the situation in Haiti,” Mayorkas said. “Our message to Haitians is quite clear: Do not take to the seas. We have seen too much tragedy when people imperil their lives, the lives of their loved ones, by doing so. We have lawful, safe, and orderly pathways for individuals who qualify for relief in the United States to arrive here.”

More than 151,000 Haitians have been legally admitted into the United States under a two-year humanitarian parole program the Biden administration launched in January of 2023 for nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. With their time limit soon approaching, the administration has not said what will happen to those individuals’ immigration status once their time limit is up.

Advocates and some members of Congress have been pressing for protections, not just for those already in the program but for other Haitian migrants who have arrived in the United States since the last 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, was announced. The current extension and designation runs through August 3.

“We do not have any plans at this time to redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status,” he continued. “Let me be clear that, when we interdict individuals from Haiti at sea, we return them to Haiti as quickly as possible. In fact, we have done so in recent weeks, and we will continue to do so. We continue to enforce the law.”

Haiti is seeing an unprecedented level of violence where an alliance of armed gangs has vandalized hospitals, pharmacies, schools and police stations. The consortium controls the road to the country’s main airport and seaport, leading to shortages of food and medicine.

The United Nations says that at least 5.5 million Haitians are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, which has become an increasingly daunting task given the ongoing gunfire and disorder.

“The crisis extends its reach far beyond the confines of Port-au-Prince, affecting communities across Haiti and leaving over 360,000 people displaced nationwide, many multiple times over,” the U.N. International Office for Migration said Wednesday. “For the nearly 100,000 internally displaced people living in sites, conditions are deplorable, amplifying the depths of suffering. Their needs include access to food, healthcare, water, psychological support, and hygiene facilities.”

Haitians continue to be deported from countries in the region despite these conditions, the agency said.

Last month, more than 13,000 Haitians were forcibly returned by neighboring countries and Coast Guard cutters, according to data from the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration. While the Dominican Republic accounted for the overwhelming number of repatriations, Haitians were also deported from Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas.

Some were interdicted by the countries directly, while others were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard, which patrols the Florida Straits, the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, and the waters off the northwest coast of Haiti.