It is believed to be one of the largest mass kidnappings in Haiti in recent years, and one gang leader is threatening to kill the hostages if authorities kill any gang members as they try to secure the community nestled in the hills above Port-au-Prince.
Mass deportations would be felt across hospitals and emergency rooms, which already face persistent staffing shortfalls. The long-term healthcare sector will suffer the greatest disruptions, experts say.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case that allows the Trump administration to end temporary protective status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians who are in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons. According to U.S. Census data nearly 40-thousand Haitians live in Georgia with most living in Metro-Atlanta.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres's visit to Port-au-Prince comes as gang violence persists. According to U.N. data, 2,300 people have been killed in Haiti this year, with another 100 kidnapped.
The 1.6 million number marks the largest-ever effort to strip permissions for immigrants who attempted to migrate to the country through legal means, advocates say.
The deployment is meant to help the government of Haiti recover vast swaths of territory seized in the past year and now controlled by heavily armed gangs.
Businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr became the head of Haiti's transitional presidential council tasked with restoring order as gangs underscored the challenges facing the Caribbean nation.
The Hotel Oloffson in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, long a haven for artists and writers, poets and presidents, a symbol of Haiti's troubled politics and its storied past, has been destroyed by gangs.
An estimated 90% of the capital Port-au-Prince is now under control of criminal groups who are expanding attacks not only into surrounding areas but beyond into previously peaceful areas.
The Department of Homeland Security's new policy, revoking legal protections for hundreds of thousands, impacts people who are already in the U.S. and who came under a humanitarian parole program.
The alleged human rights violations range from unauthorized home raids to racial profiling to deporting breastfeeding mothers and unaccompanied minors.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report that gangs in Haiti could overrun the capital, leading to a complete breakdown of government, without additional international support.
Street gangs forced the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince to close earlier this year. As journalists gathered to cover its reopening, suspected gang members opened fire.
