What's Up Little Haiti

An Appeal to the President and to the Governor

December 22, 2025
 

We, the Bishops of the Catholic Church in Florida, appeal to President Trump and to Governor DeSantis to pause immigration enforcement activities during the Christmas holidays.

The border has been secured. The initial work of identifying and removing dangerous criminals has been accomplished to a great degree. Over half a million people have been deported this year, and nearly two million more have voluntarily self-deported.

At this point, the maximum enforcement approach of treating irregular immigrants en masse means that now many of these arrest operations inevitably sweep up numbers of people who are not criminals but just here to work. It should be noted that a significant majority of those detained in Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal background.

Sometimes, these roundups include those with legal authorization to be here. Eventually these cases may be resolved, but this takes many months causing great sorrow for their families. A growing majority of Americans say the harsh enforcement policies are going too far. A climate of fear and anxiety is infecting not only the irregular migrant but also family members and neighbors who are legally in the country.

Since these effects are part of enforcement operations, we request that the government pause apprehension and round-up activities during the Christmas season. Such a pause would show a decent regard for the humanity of these families. Now is not the time to be callous toward the suffering caused by immigration enforcement.

Our nation is richly blessed. Despite challenges confronting our nation, we Americans enjoy a peace and prosperity that is the envy of the world, made possible by our special constitutional order which protects our liberties. It is no wonder that so many seek to come here. While enforcement will always be part of any immigration policy, such enforcement can be carried out in a way that recognizes due process as well as the humanity and dignity of all affected including those carrying out those policies. A pause during this holy season can lower the temperature within our partisan divisions, ease the fear and anxiety present in many of our immigrant and even non-immigrant families and allow all of us to celebrate with greater joy the advent of the Prince of Peace.

Congress passes Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act in defense bill

New law mandates investigation and sanctions against Haitian elites tied to gangs, amid recent high-profile arrests

by The Haitian Times Dec. 18, 2025

As part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress passed a landmark provision requiring the U.S. government to investigate and sanction Haitian elites who collaborate with criminal gangs. The move comes amid a widening U.S.-led crackdown on corruption and gang financing, which has already resulted in arrests and sanctions against prominent figures such as Dimitri Vorbe and Pierre Réginald Boulos.

Congress passed Wednesday, Dec. 17 the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act of 2025, a new provision embedded in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), marking a significant shift in United States foreign policy toward Haiti.

The law mandates the U.S. government to investigate, report on and impose sanctions against political and economic elites in Haiti who have colluded with violent gangs. Within 180 days of the law’s enactment, the Secretary of State must submit a report to Congress identifying prominent gangs, their leaders and their ties to elite actors. Sanctions, including asset freezes and visa revocations, are to be imposed within 90 days of the report’s release.

Faith in Action International, an advocacy group, praised the legislation as a “potential turning point for Haiti” and urged U.S. officials to fully implement the law, including sanctions on influential individuals accused of financing gangs.

The act also calls for a detailed annual report to expose the relationships between criminal gangs and the political and economic elites in Haiti.

The report is designed to be a “shining light” on corruption and must contain several specific components:

• Gang Identification: A list of prominent criminal gangs, their leaders, their specific criminal activities (including coercive recruitment), and their primary areas of operation.
• Linkage List: A list of political and economic elites in Haiti who have “direct and significant links” to these criminal gangs. Any organizations or entities controlled by these elites.
• Detailed Descriptions: A comprehensive explanation of the relationships between elites and gangs. Analysis of how elites use gang affiliations to advance political and economic interests and agendas.
• Border Security Assessment: Identification of criminal organizations involved in trafficking Haitian and other individuals to the U.S. border.
• Transnational Connections: An assessment of connections among Haitian elites, domestic gangs, and transnational criminal organizations
• Impact Analysis: An assessment of how this collusion threatens the Haitian people and U.S. national security interests.
• Proposed Actions: Recommendations for actions that both the U.S. and Haitian governments could take to address the findings.

The Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act authorizes two primary categories of sanctions against foreign individuals identified as having significant links to criminal gangs in Haiti: financial sanctions and travel restrictions.

Under the property blocking provision, the president is empowered to freeze all property and interests in property belonging to sanctioned individuals if those assets are located in the United States, enter the U.S., or are held or controlled by a U.S. person, including foreign branches of U.S.-based entities. This measure effectively prohibits the sanctioned individuals from conducting any financial transactions involving U.S. institutions or assets. The authority is grounded in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and is designed to cut off access to global financial systems for those fueling instability in Haiti.

The law also imposes strict visa restrictions. Sanctioned individuals are deemed inadmissible to the U.S. and are barred from receiving any visa or entry documentation. For those who already possess such documents, immediate revocation is mandated. This revocation also automatically nullifies any other valid visas or travel authorizations they may hold. These measures aim to isolate individuals who, despite facing serious allegations, have often continued to travel freely or maintain residences abroad—including in the U.S.

“This pattern of impunity sends a dangerous signal,” said Wilner Exantus, a Port-au-Prince resident, in a September interview with The Haitian Times. “If foreign governments sanction our leaders but Haiti’s own justice system does nothing, the corruption and violence will never end.”

The Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act gives the U.S. executive branch broad authority to investigate and sanction elites, but also includes safeguards for humanitarian aid to continue flowing into Haiti. The law is set to sunset in five years.

Faith in Action and other advocacy groups say the legislation also strengthens the case for extending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S., citing worsening violence, airport closures and unsafe conditions for deportees.

“This law acknowledges the real sources of Haiti’s instability,” the organization said. “It should be a starting point for rethinking U.S. policy in the region to support civil society and real democratic governance in Haiti.”

The bill has been sent to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature today.

(Washington Post) … Haitian died in detention

At least 30 detainees have died in 2025, prompting concerns about deteriorating conditions at facilities even as the agency has received an infusion of cash from Congress.
https://wapo.st/4annZUI 

The four detainees who recently died were Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year old Haitian immigrant held at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark; Nenko Stanev Gantchev, a 56-year-old Bulgarian immigrant who died at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan; Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan detainee in Natchez, Mississippi; and Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir, a 46-year-old Eritrean immigrant who died at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. ICE said two of the men died of natural causes, while the other two had medical complications.

How Haitian gangs extort up to $75 million a year

Gangs rake in millions through illegal tolls and cargo extortion, says new Crisis Group report

by Juhakenson Blaise Dec. 17, 2025

THE HAITIAN TIMES

Overview:

Haitian gangs under the Viv Ansanm coalition generate an estimated $60–75 million annually through extortion, primarily by charging illegal tolls on national roads and extracting fees from cargo entering the country via the Dominican Republic, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group. Despite government attempts to cut off this revenue, gang control continues to spread, fueling insecurity, mass displacement and school closures.

PORT-AU-PRINCE —  Haiti’s Viv Ansanm gang coalition, labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, generates an estimated $60 to $75 million a year by extorting cargo shipments from the Dominican Republic and charging illegal tolls on roads and ports, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group.

The report, published this week, “Undoing Haiti’s Deadly Gang Alliance,” details how gangs have diversified their funding sources, allowing them to operate independently of political and economic patrons while expanding their territorial control.

According to the report, gangs levy illegal fees on cargo entering Haiti from the Dominican Republic, charging up to $2,000 per container. Haitian Economy and Finance Minister Alfred Métellus said the scheme affects roughly 3,000 containers per month, generating tens of millions of dollars annually.

“These resources make the gangs autonomous and allow them to acquire weapons, ammunition, and personnel. The goal is to cut off the flow of resources going to them.”

Alfred Métellus, Haiti’s economy and finance ministernormal

“These resources make the gangs autonomous and independent,” Métellus told Le Nouvelliste earlier this year, after the government temporarily banned overland imports from the Dominican Republic in an effort to disrupt gang financing. 

“They allow them to acquire weapons, ammunition and even personnel. The goal is to cut off the flow of resources going to them.”

The ICG report, based on over 300 interviews conducted between February 2022 and November 2025, notes that container extortion is only one part of a broader criminal economy that includes illegal tolls on national roads, kidnappings, illicit trafficking and maritime theft.

Gangs diversify their income streams to buy weapons, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Gangs have established checkpoints across Port-au-Prince and along national highways, charging drivers about $1,500 per truck per month to use certain routes, with an additional $190 fee per trip from regional ports, the report says.

Pedestrians, commuters and even schoolchildren are often forced to pay to pass through gang-controlled areas.

“These various tolls have led to a significant increase in the cost of goods transported by land,” ICG analysts said. “Communities that try to avoid paying face violent reprisals.”

From political and economic tools to autonomous armed groups

The report traces the gangs’ evolution from groups once mobilized by political and business elites into self-directed armed actors with independent revenue streams.

Since forming the Viv Ansanm coalition in 2023 — an alliance of previously rival groups including G9 an Fanmi and Gpèp — gangs have consolidated power, expanded into areas such as  Kenscoff, Mirebalais, Saut-d’Eau, La Chapelle and other parts of the lower Artibonite, and diversified into drug and arms trafficking.

The ICG links this consolidation to a dramatic deterioration in security nationwide—a heavy human toll of gang expansion.

Since 2022, gang violence has killed more than 16,000 people, with over 5,600 homicides recorded in 2024 alone, confirming figures previously reported by other organizations. More than 1.4 million people have been displaced, and at least 1,600 schools have closed.

Children are increasingly recruited into gangs, accounting for an estimated 70% of 12,000-20,000 members in 2024, the ICG said. 

“These various tolls have led to a sharp rise in transport costs, and communities that refuse to pay face violent reprisals.”

International Crisis Groupnormal

Although the exact number of gang members in Haiti is unknown, it greatly exceeds the number of Haitian National Police (PNH) officers.

“Haitian gangs have mutated from being tools in the hands of the most powerful to overlords of the country,” said Diego Da Rin, the Crisis Group’s Haiti analyst. “While they continue to profit at the expense of Haitians, they are attempting to rebrand themselves as defenders of the poorest.”

By using this populist rhetoric—portraying themselves as a “savior” to a population they continue to terrorize, the ICG Haiti analyst said— the gang leaders aim to seek political influence and amnesty for their atrocious crimes.

Limits of military responses and recommendations

Haitian authorities have introduced new tactics, including armed drone strikes, but the report says these efforts have failed to reclaim territory or dismantle gang networks due to poor coordination and weak institutions.

Residents say they are traumatized after explosions killed children and other civilians in the gang-controlled area

As the international community replaces the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission (MSS) with the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) — composed mainly of military personnel — ICG experts warn that a military-only approach risks high civilian casualties and could further entrench gang control.

Instead, the conflict prevention group calls for a strategy combining security operations with demobilization, accountability, and efforts to cut off political and financial support.

“Military superiority over the gangs would be a major step,” said Da Rin. “But without dismantling them, halting recruitment, and cutting ties to power, it would only provide a temporary pause in the conflict.”

On  Aug. 28, 2025, residents cautiously returned to Delmas 30 and other Port-au-Prince neighborhoods after the withdrawal of the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, only to find their communities in ruins. Human remains, burned homes, looted belongings, shattered infrastructure and bullet-scarred walls bear witness to six months of unchecked violence. Survivors such as Jésula Cilus and Gesner Lebrun, left with nothing, describe despair and uncertainty about whether they can return. With more than 1.4 million people displaced and over 3,000 killed in 2025 alone, the devastation underscores Haiti’s deepening crisis and the limits of both national and international security efforts. Video by Juhakenson Blaise/The Haitian Times.

As Haiti has seen before, “Removing leaders may bring temporary calm,” he added, “but violence will return if gangs aren’t fully disarmed and their backers held accountable.”