Gang Violence, TPS, and Advocacy
In February, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded the extended designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, ending legal protections for Haitians with TPS living in the United States on August 3, 2025.
Armed groups now control over 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as parts of the North, terrorizing civilians with kidnappings, sexual violence, and indiscriminate killings. At least 5,601 people were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence. Nearly half the population of the country require urgent humanitarian aid, with 1.6 million facing catastrophic food insecurity. Gang sieges and arson attacks have internally displaced over a million people, half of them children.
In this context, over 500,000 Haitians who currently hold TPS are facing forced return to Haiti.
United States policy makes no sense. The illegal trafficking of weapons from the United States to Haiti empowers Haitian gangs and fuels the violence. Guns and ammunition are not manufactured in Haiti. Haitians sought refuge in the United States in the first place to escape the violence that our gun laws and weak border enforcement enable.
Next week, Quixote Center will launch a petition drive aimed at DHS, asking them to address the illegal trafficking of weapons from the United States, to extend TPS, and to refrain from forced returns to Haiti until their country is safe.
Gros Morne Programs
2024 was a challenging year for our partners in Gros Morne, and so far 2025 is no easier. They suffered several gang attacks near the Grepen Agricultural Center, making it difficult for them to complete their work. Gangs control the roads and charge a toll for passage.
For 2025 they are planning a big tree-planting initiative. Fruit tree production in the tree nurseries at Grepen Center is an activity that helps not only in reforestation efforts, but also enables smallholder farmers to gain more profit from the trees they cultivate. They hope to produce a total of 29,000 fruit trees within 12 months, including mango, orange, avocado, coconut, lime, grapefruit, and others. The distribution of the trees will happen during established tree planting seasons. Each group of tree planters will select the trees that they want, and then they will participate in formation training sessions so they are ready to plant the trees when there is regular rain in their area. If all goes as planned, with Quixote Center support, a first planting will occur in late April - May - June, and a second in October - November.
Like many communities in Haiti, Gros Morne has been receiving internally-displaced people from Port-au-Prince as well as deportees from the Dominican Republic. The local parish has a plan to provide cash assistance to 200 refugee families. Quixote Center plans to support this effort with a campaign in the coming weeks.
Gouin Program
As reported in January, Quixote Center launched new programming in Gouin, in the South. This is a pilot program designed to increase income and independence. We have received the first early results of the work, including detailed information about the 100 participant families.
In this community, 84% of rural families live below what is needed to sustain themselves. This means they own a plot of land but are unable to plant it for lack of means. They may have two or three pigs, but they do not get enough to eat.
All families in this community practice farming as the main source of income. Unfortunately, with climate change, the crop loss is high due to repeated periods of drought. It is also difficult to assess the economic profitability of these plots, because farmers are not accustomed to producing a profit and loss statement, nor to seeing themselves as entrepreneurs who invest with a view to making a profit that can meet their family's needs. This program will address that issue.
To compensate for losses from farming and livestock breeding, families, usually the women, engage in small commercial activities, called petit démêlé. Our program will expand these activities to support family-strengthening and income-generation for women. Most of the women in the community are also engaged in the farm activities. The women from Gouin have already received the first training sessions on organizational strengthening and on how to create community banks or MUSO (Mutuelle Solidarite). Women who have access to financial services tend to generate positive impacts for their households and the community at large.
Livestock plays a key role in the Haitian population, and almost all farming families in the communities of Gouin and Sainte-Hélène own a few animals. Cattle and pig breeding are dominant. Good Tchen disease, commonly known as "ren kase" in Haiti, poses an enormous threat to pig breeders. In rural areas, pig farming is the savings account of the farming family. It guarantees school fees, especially for the start of the school year.
According to the statements made by the members of this community and the direct observation made by the interviewers, measuring the level of wealth and having an idea of the income of the rural family is not easy, as they are not used to calculating the income and output of their activities. However, we did consider certain criteria to classify family income levels: children's schooling, meals per day, plots of land, a herd of cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and so on. This program will track those metrics using an online tool.
The project is on track, with two training programs already completed. Farm families are tilling new land, preparing compost, and planting vegetables. We will receive the first quarter report in April.
Our Haiti programming is lifesaving, designed to support Haitians living in the United States, decrease the violence in Haiti, fight climate change through increasing the tree cover, and improve livelihoods for the most vulnerable.
We thank you for your support. We could not do this work without you.
Comments
Sister Marilyn ... (not verified)
Praise the Lord! Please count me in next week, when Quixote Center will launch a petition drive aimed at DHS, asking them to address the illegal trafficking of weapons from the United States, to extend TPS, and to refrain from forced returns to Haiti until their country is safe.
Quixote Center (not verified)
Thanks for your support, Sister Marilyn!
Jean-Paul Bonnet (not verified)
Never stop dreaming the impossible dream. !
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