An Orlando man who was one of 50 people deported to Haiti has spoken out.
Gerson Joseph, 40, said he was unknowingly on the deportation flight from Louisiana to Miami and then to Haiti last week, and has been stuck in his native country ever since.
In a telephone interview with the local NBC affiliate WSCVJoseph detailed the protest taking place aboard the plane.
‘When the plane was taking off, 80% of the people on the plane stood up on the plane, saying. “I didn’t want to go,” she said.
“They blew up the plane while we were still on the plane.”
Gerson Joseph (pictured), 40, said he was unknowingly on the deportation flight from Louisiana to Miami and then to Haiti last week.
Joseph said he has been trapped in his home country, now ravaged by war, since
Joseph said the other Haitians on the flight protested, even standing up during takeoff.
Although Joseph was born in Haiti, he spent his adult life in Orlando.
“They left us here without travel documents, I don’t even have a piece of paper that can identify who I am now, where I am,” he said.
He said he has nowhere to take refuge in Haiti, which has recently been the victim of extreme gun and gang violence.
“I have no idea what I’m going to do,” he said. ‘I barely sleep, man. I’m not going to lie to you, I hardly sleep, I move from one place to another.’
Haitian-American community leaders in South Florida called on President Biden to halt new deportation efforts, citing the dire circumstances in Haiti, and expressed outrage over the restart of the deportation flight program on Tuesday.
Joseph said he was deported because he missed immigration court dates, which he said he didn’t know because the letters notifying him were lost in the mail.
After settling a court case in Orlando where he was accused of criminal conduct, Joseph was taken into ICE custody at the Krome Detention Center and later deported.
“While I was at Krome, they approved my fiancé and I to get married and everything, so I could stay in the United States,” she said.
Her 7-year-old daughter is in Orlando with her mother.
Those with deportation orders will be returned to their home countries, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
Joseph (pictured) said he was deported because he missed immigration court dates, which he said he didn’t know because the letters notifying him were lost in the mail.
Joseph (pictured) said he has nowhere to take refuge in Haiti, which has recently been the victim of extreme gun violence.
While Joseph (pictured) was at the Krome Detention Center in Miami, he and his fiancé were approved to get married so they could stay in the US.
Leaders of the Haitian-American community in South Florida have called on President Biden to halt new deportation efforts, citing the dire circumstances in Haiti.
The US Department of Homeland Security said they are ‘monitoring the situation in Haiti’
Haiti has been taken over by violent gang members roaming the streets of the war-torn Caribbean nation since the prime minister resigned three weeks ago amid the carnage.
The department stated on April 19 that it is “monitoring the situation in Haiti.”
Haiti has been taken over by violent gang members roaming the streets of the war-torn Caribbean nation since the prime minister resigned three weeks ago amid the carnage.
Over the past month, heavily armed gangs have attacked key infrastructure across the capital, Port-au-Prince, including police stations, the main international airport that remains closed and Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.
The most terrifying of the gang’s leaders is Jimmy ‘Barbeque’ Cherizier, who seems determined to overthrow the government as it attempts to restore order.
The gangs control most of the territory surrounding the presidential palace, but a transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet requires its members to be sworn in there.
The council wants the ceremony to be held on Wednesday in defiance of the bands, but ‘Barbecue’ warned them to think twice.
“Whether you are installed or not, this message is for you: prepare yourselves,” he said in a Tuesday video shared on social media.
William O’Neill, U.N. human rights expert for Haiti, said the conflict-torn Caribbean nation now needs between 4,000 and 5,000 international police to help tackle “catastrophic” gang violence, which is targeting key people and hospitals, schools, banks and other critical places. institutions.
In 2023, the number of people killed and injured as a result of gang violence increased significantly, with 4,451 dead and 1,668 injured, according to O’Neill’s report.