As insecurity and corruption choke Haiti, officials insist they’re ready to welcome returning deportees. But Haitians on the ground know better.
Immigration | The Haitian Pulse Editorial Team | July 5, 2025
This week, Kathia Verdier, Haiti’s Minister of Haitians Living Abroad, declared that the government is “ready” to welcome and reintegrate the hundreds of thousands of Haitians set to be deported from the U.S. and elsewhere. In her words: “Lakay se lakay e lakay ap toujou rete lakay.” (Home is home, and home will always be home.)
For Haitians watching the daily violence unfold in Port-au-Prince, Verdier’s reassurances feel like a cruel joke. This is a government with one of the worst records of showing up for its people in times of crisis. On the streets, armed gangs roam freely, carjackings and kidnappings escalate daily, and citizens live in fear. Just this morning in Delmas 31, armed men on motorcycles brazenly robbed a man and fled with his RAV4—one of four similar thefts in the area this week. Hours earlier, a kidnapping attempt was reported nearby. The chaos is not subsiding; it is spreading like wildfire.
Meanwhile, reports are circulating that U.S. authorities are offering $1,000 to Haitian migrants who self-deport. Many suspect that Haitian officials’ eagerness to accept deportees is less about compassion and more about grabbing whatever financial crumbs they can. After all, this is the same government that handed deportees a meager $7 upon arrival during earlier waves of expulsions—a cruel gesture to those who spent years working abroad to support families back home.
“A young Haitian who worked tirelessly in the U.S. to provide for their family now finds themselves dumped back into a country where gangs rule, jobs are nonexistent, and $7 is offered as consolation. It’s beyond insulting—it’s inhumane.”
Verdier, a political appointee with no proven track record in migration policy, appears to have little understanding of the scale of this crisis or the logistical nightmare awaiting deportees. Instead of concrete plans, Haitians are met with hollow statements and empty promises from a government plagued by corruption.
This looming wave of deportations is not just a migration issue; it’s a test of Haiti’s ability to provide for its people in the face of mounting pressure. So far, the signs are grim. Without real leadership and tangible action, this crisis risks pushing deportees—many young and desperate—into the arms of gangs that already hold the country hostage.
Haiti cannot afford another generation lost to violence and mismanagement. It is time for its so-called leaders to step up or step aside.
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