On Aug. 20, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) organized the first deportation flight of 170 Haitians, former holders of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which landed in the northern coastal city of Cap Haitien, population 800,000. This is the only airport at which foreign airlines can land as gang violence has made the major international airport in Port-au-Prince too dangerous for any air traffic. Many of those on board had been arrested just over the past 2-3 weeks, bearing ankle monitors placed on them previously by ICE which made them easy to track. Many still have pending asylum cases but ICE is deporting them anyway.
Cap Haitien is in no condition to accept a large influx of migrants. People from other regions of the country have taken refuge there in recent years because it is so far relatively safe, not overtaken by gangs. But it has no infrastructure or institutional presence able to handle a large number of new arrivals. The local hospital is overflowing with patients, uncollected garbage sits on the streets, traffic is unmanageable and there is little housing available in the city.
