There is sunshine, nice rivers and great drinks
Underneath the trees, you'll always find great shade
Where you'll find a gentle breeze to keep you cool
Haiti, is a country dear to me
Excerpted from a 1925 poem by Othello Bayard
Last week I visited Haiti for the first time since 2019. Getting there was chaotic: we had to arrive at Miami’s airport at 2:30 in the morning for a 6:30 flight to Cap Haitien in the north, to transfer to a puddle-jumper to Les Cayes in the south. For security reasons, Cap Haitien has replaced Port-au-Prince as the country’s international airport. There are two small buildings, one labeled arrivals and the other departures, although we had to wait in arrivals for our departure. Both were packed with people and luggage, with minimal sanitation or food options, and even less official oversight to direct a confusing process of winding check-in lines, claiming baggage, deplaning, and boarding.
Les Cayes was once a small, sleepy city tucked away from the chaos and crowds of the capital and surrounded by farmland. Now it is packed with people and cars and dust. An estimated 1.4 million people have internally displaced due to gang violence in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, as well as in Artibonite in the north. Many have ended up in Les Cayes and Cap Haitien, turning smaller regional cities into safe havens for families who have lost everything and who are left with few options. People and cars are everywhere trying to hustle something to make a living, and there are not enough customers to go around. There are no jobs. There are no services.
In this context, the US government has rescinded the legal immigration status for 350,000 Haitians and stepped up deportation flights, which go into Cap Haitien, to twice a week. They have targeted Haitians in Springfield, OH, with ankle monitors and are arresting their pastors. Our program manager, Fred Schick, is in Springfield as I write this, as part of a national mobilization to accompany the Haitian community.
US policy is incoherent.
It is not in our national security interest to make things worse in Haiti. We are taking people who have jobs and families and contribute to our economy and society and forcing them into a country saturated with people who have no options. Our government looks the other way from the gun-running out of the United States to Haiti, which sustains a vast network of trafficking in people, drugs, and weapons.
As we were leaving Sunday night through Cap Haitien, a massacre was unfolding in Kenscoff, located on the outskirts of the capital. The official numbers keep changing, but it seems that criminal gangs murdered at least 47 people and kidnapped another 50. Now the government is dealing with a hostage crisis. Haiti’s current government is illegitimate, chosen by other governments and not its own people. Many officials are known to be corrupt and collaborating with criminal groups. Under pressure from the United States, they plan to hold elections in December, despite such severe security concerns that many Haitians will not feel safe voting. The plan looks like a ploy to keep the current government in power rather than to hold a free and fair election. It should be postponed.
What is to be done?
Many of you have already taken action, and for this we thank you. We are planning a big push in late September to support legislation to end the gun-running. We will send more information with an opportunity to participate in the coming weeks. We are grateful for each and every person that speaks in defense of Haitians in the United States. The Haitian community needs solidarity, and a host of groups are organizing a virtual phone bank bi-weekly on Fridays (next date: Sep. 4).
Haiti Cherie.
The poem is an anthem of love turned to music and covered by many artists, including a version by Harry Belafonte. Another part reads:
When you're in the white man's country, you're afraid to go out day or night
Everyone is walking so fast that you'd think they're crazy dogs
Where are they going? Why are they running?
They’re in such a hurry that they never stop to ask how you're doing
It’s my favorite part, because it captures something real about my own country. The truth is that many Haitians who are here with temporary status would go back to Haiti if they thought they could. But until Haiti returns to being the beautiful, peaceful country in our hopes and dreams and imagination, they can’t.
Read more about Haiti Cherie here.
the photos below were taken in August 2026, in Les Cayes and Port Salut.
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