U.S. deports dozens to Haiti as migrants arrive in unfamiliar country

More than 50 people have been deported from the United States to Haiti, arriving in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien as the country grapples with deadly gang violence and insecurity.

Among those on Thursday’s flight was Jay Dabelus, a professional boxer who was born in the Bahamas and says he has never lived in Haiti.

“I just arrived in Haiti. I don’t know much about Haiti. Actually, I don’t know anything about Haiti. I was born in the Bahamas, and I had been living in the U.S.A. for about 20-something years.”

Dabelus said he left the Bahamas as a child and spent more than two decades in the United States before being detained and deported.

Now in Haiti, he says he has no family or resources to rely on.

“Other than that, I’m in the land of Haiti. It is nice here, but I am trying to move on. I don’t have any resources, family members, or people to aid me, so I am trying to see how I can go from there.”

The flight carried more than 50 deportees, including two minors, according to Haiti's National Office of Migration.

It arrived in Cap-Haïtien because the main airport in Port-au-Prince is considered too dangerous amid widespread gang violence.

The deportation comes days after a gang attack in Haiti left 47 people dead and more than 50 kidnapped.

It is the second U.S. deportation flight to Haiti since Temporary Protected Status was ended for some 350,000 Haitians living in the United States.

The first flight, on August 20, carried more than 160 people.

As with previous arrivals, several deportees covered their faces after landing, highlighting the security fears they face in a country many may have little or no connection to.