(2024-11) ACAPS Thematic Report - Haiti: Humanitarian Impact of Increased Deportations from the Dominican Republic (26 November 2024)
Summary — This ACAPS thematic report examines the humanitarian consequences of the Dominican Republic's October 2024 policy of deporting up to 10,000 Haitian migrants per week, with nearly 40,000 deportations documented by IOM by 18 November. Combining a secondary data review with key informant interviews with over a dozen humanitarian responders, it traces needs through the deportation process, at Haiti's four official border crossings, and after deportees leave the border, finding shelter, health, food, protection, documentation, and transport assistance largely unavailable.
Key Findings
- IOM documented nearly 40,000 deportations from the Dominican Republic by 18 November 2024, around 27,000 in October alone, the highest monthly level since mass deportations resumed at the end of 2022.
- Deportations concentrated at four official crossings, with about 50 percent at Belladères, 30 percent at Ouanaminthe, 12 percent at Anse-à-Pitres, and 8 percent at Malpasse, where reception capacity totals only around 340 emergency shelter places and none at Malpasse.
- Deportees report violence, extortion, and confiscation of belongings and identity documents during arrest and detention in the Dominican Republic, with overcrowded facilities and denial of food, water, and medical care, including for pregnant women and unaccompanied children.
- If the announced pace of 10,000 weekly deportations were sustained, around 130,000 deportees, over 1 percent of Haiti's population, would need urgent humanitarian assistance by end-2024, on top of a crisis with 6 million people already in need.
- Most deportees travel onward to border departments and Artibonite where there is no systematic monitoring of their needs, while some attempt immediate re-entry to the Dominican Republic through smugglers, exposing them to further protection risks.
Full Description
After the Dominican government announced on 2 October 2024 that it would deport up to 10,000 Haitian migrants weekly, IOM documented nearly 40,000 deportations by 18 November, around 27,000 in October alone, the highest monthly total since deportations intensified at the end of 2022 (208,000 forced returns were recorded in 2023 against 17,000 in 2022). Arrivals were concentrated at four official land crossings: roughly 50 percent at Belladères (Centre), 30 percent at Ouanaminthe (Nord-Est), 12 percent at Anse-à-Pitres (Sud-Est), and 8 percent at Malpasse (Ouest). The report sets the policy in the context of an estimated 500,000-1,000,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, statelessness affecting up to 245,000 people following the 2010 constitutional reform and 2013 court ruling, border militarisation and wall construction, and the October 2023 suspension of visa issuance for Haitians. Methodologically, it combines a secondary data review with key informant interviews and draws on the 2024 REACH MSNA and IOM flow monitoring of about 7,400 returnees.
The analysis follows the deportation pathway. During arrest and detention in the Dominican Republic, migrants report violence, extortion, confiscation of documents, and overcrowded facilities without adequate food, water, or medical care, including for pregnant women and unaccompanied children. At the Haitian border, emergency accommodation (around 200 spaces at Ouanaminthe, 80 at Belladères, 60 at Anse-à-Pitres, none at Malpasse) falls far short of needs, and health, protection, and referral services are minimal. After leaving the border, most deportees head to departments adjoining the border and to Artibonite, where host communities already face acute needs, while others attempt immediate re-entry through smugglers. ACAPS notes that if the weekly target were sustained, around 130,000 deportees, over 1 percent of Haiti's population, would require urgent assistance by end-2024, straining services amid escalating gang violence, and that there is no systematic monitoring of deportees' needs after they disperse.
Notes
ACAPS thematic/anticipatory analysis