Request for Thematic Hearing on Deportations of Haitian Nationals from the United States to Haiti During the 186th Period of Sessions of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights

On December 12, 2022, the Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, in collaboration with Haitian Bridge Alliance, Alternative Chance, RFK Human Rights, Human Rights and Immigration Clinics University of Miami School of Law, FANM/Haitian Women of Miami, and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti requested a thematic hearing with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to address the United States’ persistence in deporting Haitian nationals, despite full knowledge that Haiti continues to grapple with extreme political turmoil, gang violence, and lack of access to medical care and other necessities.

Deportations pose a grave risk to life and personal security, particularly as the Haitian government has started immediately detaining many deported individuals right off the plane and placing them in prison indefinitely with no legal justification, hoping to extract a ransom. One of these deported individuals, Roody Fogg, died of cholera in a Haitian prison in October.