Temporary immigration protections will remain in place, for now, for more than 350,000 Haitians in the U.S.
A federal appeals court in Washington D.C. district late Friday rejected the Trump administration’s request to allow deportations to take place while a lawsuit challenging its termination of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation moves forward.
Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé unveiled a major reshufflng of his cabinet on Tuesday, retaining just five ministers in a new government largely consisting of untested figures endorsed by political parties and groups that recently signed a sweeping national accord.
In a ceremony Monday, Fils-Aimé described the agreement as “a contract” designed to put the country on the road toward stability, elections and security. “The stability of a country doesn’t depend solely on security in the streets and the neighborhoods,” he said.
The pact doesn’t provide an end date for the current governmental transition, the third since the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moïse plunged the country deeper into instability.
“I think what’s important here for all of us is that Haitians are seen leading their security initiative,” he said. “If we are left here without a 35- to 50,000 man force in the country, I don’t believe there’s any hope of sustained security in Haiti. We have the last four years that point to that. And so what we’re proposing is a dual framework, in addition to the Gang Suppression Force, to augment train and to leave behind Haitian security forces that can sustain in a durable manner.”
Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies tiendra lundi 19 octobre une séance publique consacrée à Haïti, suivie de consultations à huis clos, avec au programme la dégradation de la situation sécuritaire, le déploiement de la Force de répression des gangs (GSF) et les incertitudes entourant l’organisation des prochaines élections.
Selon Security Council Report, publié le 16 octobre, trois responsables onusiens sont susceptibles de présenter un état des lieux : Carlos Ruiz Massieu, représentant spécial du secrétaire général et chef du Bureau intégré des Nations unies en Haïti (BINUH) ; Jack Christofides, représentant spécial pour la GSF ; et Daniela Kroslak, secrétaire générale adjointe et cheffe du Bureau de soutien des Nations unies en Haïti (UNSOH), dont la participation au briefing reste possible.
Former Haitian President Michel Martelly has registered to run for the presidency of the Caribbean nation, joining a growing list of candidates hoping to lead a troubled Haiti despite facing sanctions from the United States, Canada and the European Union — or in the case of the former singer, all three.
Martelly’s name was among 16 listed Friday on the Provisional Electoral Council’s website as having preliminary registered to run. The list also includes another former president, Jocelerme Privert, and a former member of the lower house of Parliament, Gary Bodeau. Privert who oversaw the country’s last general elections in 2016, has been sanctioned by Canada. Bodeau has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under a federal act that targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption, and faces Canadian sanctions as well.
Prince would not disclose the annual fee he receives for work with the Task Force, claiming only that it is a “fraction” of the cost of the short-lived Multinational Security Support mission — an initiative backed financially and logistically by the United States, that once envisaged 5,500 foreign police in Port-au-Prince.
“Our cost is one-sixth of what their annual camp cost was,” Prince said. The sum is likely in the tens of millions of dollars.
His income will be augmented by a deal to help control Haiti’s porous border with the Dominican Republic for the next 10 years in return for 10% of any new customs revenue collected. The long-term contract has raised criticism locally of how Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé is using his mandate as interim leader.
Les États-Unis ont annoncé, le 15 octobre, plus de 340 millions de dollars de nouveaux engagements financiers en faveur des Caraïbes, destinés notamment à la sécurité portuaire, au renforcement des forces de l’ordre, aux infrastructures numériques et aux capacités sanitaires. Derrière cette enveloppe régionale, Haïti occupe une place particulière : lors de l’ouverture du Dialogue États-Unis-Caraïbes, le vice-secrétaire d’État américain Christopher Landau a directement évoqué les armes acheminées vers le territoire haïtien depuis les États-Unis et les démarches entreprises par Washington pour tenter d’endiguer ces flux.