Protection des migrants

The forced returns of Haitians to Haiti represent one of the major migration crises facing the country. This phenomenon intensified considerably in 2025, with over 270,000 people deported.

IOM and the Migrant Protection Working Group collaborated with other partners, notably ONM and GARR, to develop this factsheet in order to highlight the main deportation trends in 2025, as well as comparative analyses with previous years from 2021 onwards.

Les retours forcés de ressortissants haïtiens vers Haïti représentent l'une des principales crises migratoires que connaît le pays. Ce phénomène s'est considérablement intensifié en 2025, avec plus de 270 000 personnes déportées.

L’OIM et le Groupe de travail Protection des Migrants ont collaboré avec d’autres partenaires, notamment l’ONM et le GARR, pour élaborer cette factsheet afin de mettre en lumière les principales tendances des déportations en 2025, ainsi que les analyses comparatives avec les années précédentes depuis 2021.

À l’occasion de la Journée internationale des migrants, le Groupe de travail Protection des Migrants alerte sur la dégradation rapide de la situation humanitaire et de protection aux points frontaliers haïtiens, en particulier à Belladère et Ouanaminthe. Depuis octobre 2024, les déportations se poursuivent à un rythme soutenu, dans un contexte marqué par l’absence de mécanismes adéquats de coordination, d’accueil et de prise en charge, exposant des milliers de personnes à des violations graves de leurs droits fondamentaux.

Entre avril et décembre 2025, plus de 180 000 personnes ont été déportées vers Haïti, dont de nombreux enfants, femmes enceintes et personnes présentant des vulnérabilités élevées. Les capacités locales étant largement dépassées, de nombreuses personnes se retrouvent sans abri et exposées à des risques accrus de violences, d’exploitation et de traite. Cette note de plaidoyer appelle à une action immédiate et coordonnée des États procédant aux déportations, des autorités haïtiennes et des partenaires humanitaires afin de garantir des retours conformes aux normes internationales de protection et de droits humains.

As Haiti faces its highest levels of displacement and insecurity on record, deported Haitians are returning to a country where they confront significant protection, social, and economic challenges.In 2024 alone, approximately 200,000 Haitian migrants were forcibly returned to Haiti, followed by an additional 250,000 since January 2025. The vast majority (98 per cent) from the Dominican Republic, with others arriving from the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United States, and The Bahamas.

In partnership with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University College London (UCL) and the University of Dartmouth, IOM has been, since 2024, implementing a panel reintegration study of deported Haitians.

This study aims at providing in-depth understanding on reintegration opportunities and challenges faced by deported migrants. This joint project brings together IOM’s operational presence in Haiti and institutional knowledge on migrant reintegration with cutting-edge research experience by academic partners at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University College London (UCL) and the University of Dartmouth. This longitudinal panel study will track same individuals over time, capturing how reintegration evolves in response to shifting local conditions and broader national events. By including a comparison group from the general population alongside deported migrants, the study can isolate the specific impacts of deportation and identify outcomes directly linked to deportations.

The first survey was conducted between 16 December 2024 and 19 May 2025 and IOM Haiti surveyed 3,531 Haitians including 1,237 deported migrants and 2,294 non-deportees. This report present results from this first round of this panel study, exploring several factors such as security and institution trust, migration intentions, economic, social and psychosocial integrations. Please note that all of these insights are descriptive, meaning none should be interpreted causally. Findings for deportees do not describe the broader population of individuals who migrate out of Haiti. For instance, they do not describe people who are still on the move. Some number of individuals migrate out of Haiti and are not deported back and, thus, are not included in our sample.

Key findings from this first round indicate that :

- Both groups experience substantial insecurity and violence. They report similar levels of (very low) safety in their current place of residence and (very low) trust in state and non-state institutions.

- Compared to non-deportees, deportees report slightly higher intent to migrate, although they also report slightly less resources to do so.

- Unemployment and measures of economic stress are high across the country for both deportees and non-deportees. Compared to
non-deportees, deportees report fewer assets and less integration into the labor market, as measured by the amount of work in the last four weeks.

- Compared to non-deportees, deportees score lower on indices that measure dignity, social and political integration, and mental health. About half of respondents report symptoms consistent with depression or anxiety.

- Within deportees, those who experienced more harm during deportation (e.g. verbal and physical abuse or poor conditions) also report more often that they do not feel safe and that they use negative coping mechanisms to survive (e.g. skipping meals and child marriage).

Deportations of Haitians to Haiti remain one of the country's main migration dynamics. Many Haitians attempt to leave the country through regular or irregular pathways for various reasons. Those who take irregular routes not only risk their lives but are often deported back to Haiti by destination or transit countries. In 2024, nearly 200,000 people were deported to Haiti from various countries. Many had spent months or even years abroad and face significant challenges reintegrating into their communities. The security and socio-economic situation in Haiti further complicates this process. As a result, even after being deported, many attempt to leave again - sometimes multiple times - through irregular migration routes.

This report analyzes the profiles of Haitians deported in 2024, exploring their sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, migration experiences, and future migration intentions. Data was collected through individual surveys conducted with a sample of deportees upon their arrival in Haiti (see page 40 for details on methodology).

The objective of this research is to support the development or adaptation of policies and programs that promote the well-being of migrants and their communities of origin and destination. Findings aims at informing humanitarian assistance efforts for deportees upon arrival while also guiding deported migrants’ reintegration programs and the strengthening of regular migration pathways.

Assistance au migrants déportés en Décembre 2024 en Haiti

On 2 October 2024, the Government of the Dominican Republic announced that it would begin deporting up to 10,000 Haitian migrants back to Haiti per week (Protection Cluster 09/10/2024; AP 08/10/2024). By 18 November, IOM had documented nearly 40,000 deportations, with around 27,000 in October alone. This constitutes the highest monthly number of returns since the end of 2022, when the Dominican Republic began to increase its deportation of Haitian migrants.
All deportations were documented at the four official land border crossings, with around 50% (nearly 20,000) at Belladeres, Centre department; 30% (12,500) at Ouanaminthe, Nord-Est department; 12% (4,700) at Anse-à-Pitres, Sud-Est department; and 8% (3,000) at Malpasse,
Ouest department (IOM accessed 05/11/2024).
Deportees and returnees, including pregnant women and unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), generally arrive with high pre-existing humanitarian needs. Many are deported without their belongings and experience varied protection threats, including harassment, violence, extortion, and the denial of access to basic services while living in the Dominican Republic and during the deportation process (Protection Cluster 09/10/2024; AI 28/08/2024 and 02/04/2024; KII 13/11/2024; KII 19/11/2024).
Humanitarian assistance and health, protection, and other basic services are limited or unavailable at the border crossings, leaving many needs unmet. Priority needs for deportees and returnees on arrival include emergency shelter, healthcare, food, water, assistance with identification and referral services, and transport (KII 15/11/2024; KII 19/11/2024).
Deportees and returnees also experience high needs after leaving the border, as many have no safe means of transport or safe destination within Haiti. Most deportees and returnees leave the border after several days, hitchhiking, using cash, or receiving transport from humanitarian responders to travel to their communities of origin or other host communities.
While information on their destinations is limited, responder monitoring and data from prior returns indicate that most probably intend to travel to departments bordering the Dominican Republic (Centre, Nord-Est, Ouest, and Sud-Est) and to Artibonite department. Others attempt to return to the Dominican Republic immediately, often through smugglers (KII 11/11/2024 a; KII 15/11/2024; KII 08/11/2024; IOM 13/05/2024).
There is no systematic monitoring of returnees’ and deportees’ needs on arrival in their communities of origin and other destinations, leaving significant information gaps. Given Haiti’s pre-existing humanitarian crisis, which severely escalating gang violence since March 2024 has aggravated, these needs will likely increase along with the needs of host communities, who have minimal resources and capacity to support arrivals.

Assistance au migrants déportés en Novembre 2024 en Haiti

Assistance au migrants déportés en Octobre 2024 en Haiti