Women with children in their hands, entire families, angry young men hiding their faces to escape the cameras as they get off the buses … This is the image provided by the deportation of some Haitians camped under a bridge on the border between Mexico and the USA

One deportee told local media about his long journey to attempt to enter the United States, which began Sunday to deport dozens of Haitians held in a makeshift camp under a bridge in the South Texas town of Del Rio after a massive border crossing.

The unnamed man described the experience as “extremely difficult”.

“We spent four days in prison in the United States without brushing our teeth or eating,” he said.

Although “everyone dreams of living in the United States” his idea was to get to Canada. “I will not wait a week to return. I will go back to Chile, where I have permanent residence. I cannot stay here,” he added.

Leave one country for another

An official government source told Effie that 208 Haitians who had attempted to enter the United States illegally were returned to Haiti on Sunday, in a social, political and economic context marked by a severe crisis.

Of the three flights scheduled for Sunday, two have already arrived, Jean Négote Bonor Delva, coordinator of the National Office for Migration, told EFE.

According to the official, all flights should carry 145 passengers, but it received 98 passengers on the first flight and 110 on the second.

“They are people who tried to enter the United States through its border with Mexico. These are people who lived in Chile, Mexico, Panama and Brazil in particular,” he added.

These people have left Latin American countries where it was legal to enter the United States illegally.

“They are leaving these areas. They want to go back to the United States,” he said.

In search of a better life

This year, with kidnappings, growing insecurity, the assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moise, in July and the earthquake in August, hundreds of thousands of Haitians have left the country in search of a better life elsewhere. before indifference. from the authorities.

“They wouldn’t leave if they were in a country with security, access to health care and employment. We spoke to some of them and they told us they were looking for a better life,” Bonor Delva said.

In recent months, Mexico has become the ideal place for Haitians hoping to cross into the United States.

Among the countries targeted by the recent wave of immigration is the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

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Many professors left schools, colleges, doctors, and hospitals to rebuild their lives elsewhere.

“You can see what country you’re in,” Bonor Delva told Effie. “It’s the disability situation that makes people unwilling to stay. Haiti gives them no chance.”

Those who remain are, on the one hand, those who do not have sufficient means to leave the country, and on the other hand, those who still resist the belief that they can one day get better.

Thousands of people displaced by armed guerrilla warfare are added to the thousands affected by the earthquake of 14 August, so that Haiti is currently experiencing a new humanitarian crisis.

“In fact, these waves of deportation can aggravate our situation as a people,” says Bonheur, noting that 2.5 million Haitians live on less than $1 a day.

Most of the deportees say they will leave the country soon. Those with legal documents from Chile, Brazil and Mexico promise the trip in the next few days.