A plane full of Haitian deportees from the United States landed in the island’s northern port city of Cap-Haitien on Friday morning, marking the first wave of deportations after the Trump administration successfully revoked the country’s temporary protected status.
With the June ruling in favor of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy aims, the Supreme Court paved the way for the Department of Homeland Security to terminate TPS for Haitian immigrants, effective July 26. After the plan cleared a final possible legal hurdle in early August, with Biden-appointed federal judge Ana Reyes confirming her temporary halt on the plan was no longer in effect, the Trump administration put its plans into place to repatriate the Haitian immigrants.
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The first tangible effect of the Trump administration’s win in court fell into place on Friday, as the American jet carrying over 160 Haitians landed in Cap-Haitien.
“It is not the Haitian state that asks for them to be sent back,” Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, the director general of the Haitian National Office of Migration, told the Associated Press. “Our mission is to welcome migrants of forced return.”
“We welcome them with the aim of accompanying them to their home,” Delva continued.
He told the outlet that the country’s National Office of Migration would host the incoming deportees in “secure spaces” until they reach their homes. Haitian officials gave arriving repatriated migrants up to $65, along with food and drink, according to the outlet.
“Those who cannot reach their homes today, we will host them in secure spaces and the next day the process will continue until all migrants return home as they should,” Delva said.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in its June decision, allowing the Trump administration to end TPS for Haiti, Syria, and other countries in the future without judicial review. This win allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to crack down on the TPS of about 350,000 Haitian immigrants.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement began moving to deport the immigrants after their TPS expired, expediting processes in states such as Ohio, which became a fixture of the Haitian refugee crisis as Trump pointed to the many immigrants in the state during the 2024 presidential election. In early August, ICE began tracking the Haitian TPS recipients with ankle monitors.
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According to an ICE flight tracker from Human Rights First, first cited by the Associated Press, the agency had sent over 350 deportation flights to Haiti since 2020, with seven flights sent so far in 2026, as of July 16.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to DHS for comment.
