These Haitians, beneficiaries of the Biden program, who left the United States

The early end of the Biden program in December 2024 and the revocation of beneficiaries’ legal status by the new US administration in June last year forced Haitians to return under threat of deportation

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When Patrick Eliassaint, a lawyer and teacher, landed on the tarmac of Cap-Haïtien airport in July 2025, after two years spent in the United States, he learned that Lascahobas, his city of residence, was plagued by attacks from armed gangs, having forced his extended family to flee.

For him, however, there was no going back.

His two years spent on American soil, as part of the Humanitarian Parole program, were marked by precariousness and constant administrative pressure.

The early end of this program in December 2024 and the revocation of the legal status of beneficiaries by the new American administration in June 2025, forced Haitians to return to the country, under threat of deportation.

Four of them, contacted by AyiboPost, mentioned disappointed expectations, economic insecurity and difficulties adapting that pushed them to return to Haiti, despite a persistent crisis.

When Eliassaint left Haiti in September 2023, his intention was to settle down, stabilize his economic situation, while waiting for his wife and son to obtain authorization under the same program and join him.

Settled with relatives in North Miami, Eliassaint obtained his work permit and began studies in technology and construction at Miami Dade College.

But, his wife and son were not allowed into the program.

Eliassaint then began to face the hardening of anti-migrant rhetoric as early as 2024.

The situation deteriorated in 2025 when many of his compatriots lost their jobs. Police checks aimed at identifying migrants were commonplace.

To secure his stay, he had submitted an application for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), but the process stalled, with no update deadline.

A new blow came in June 2025, after judicial and administrative decisions led to the termination of the legal status of the Biden program beneficiaries. For Eliassaint, the shock was immediate: « I felt like everything I had built could collapse at once. »

Since 2024, he had left Florida for New Jersey, abandoning his studies to devote himself solely to work.

He believes this reality has made his situation even more precarious. « I felt like I was becoming a work machine, without a clear perspective, without a horizon. »

Disappointed and worried about his son’s future, Eliassaint was forced to return to Haiti in July 2025. He settled in Saint-Marc with his family.

A new blow came in June 2025, after judicial and administrative decisions led to the termination of the legal status of the Biden program beneficiaries. For Eliassaint, the shock was immediate: « I felt like everything I had built could collapse at once. »

Although he was able to resume his teaching activities to support his family, conditions remain very precarious. For some time now, Saint-Marc has been under constant threat from gangs.

“I wondered if I had made a mistake [by returning to Haiti],” he confides, even though he now says he takes responsibility for that decision.

In recent years, faced with the security and economic crisis in Haiti, thousands of Haitians have left the country to settle elsewhere.

The Humanitarian Parole CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela) program, established by the Biden administration in 2023, has offered legal residency in the United States to more than 210,000 Haitians eager to work there and thus help their families in Haiti.

But Donald Trump’s return to the White House has radically changed the situation.

Even during his election campaign in 2024, he had already threatened to trigger mass deportations of migrants.

In early 2025, the Trump administration replaced the CBP One app with a new version called CBP Home. The app now allows migrants without legal status to declare their intention to leave the United States. It offered a financial incentive of $1,000, increased to $3,000 in December, according to US authorities.

In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)) indicates that 1.9 million undocumented immigrants have « voluntarily » left the United States using this process.

The DHS also specifies that more than 600,000 migrants were deported during the same period.

AyiboPost’s attempts to obtain statistics from the DHS on the number of Haitians who had already used this platform to declare their intention to leave the United States or who had already left the country were unsuccessful before the article was published.

Reached by AyiboPost, US-based immigration lawyer Frandley Denis Julien says he knows Haitian migrants — including beneficiaries of the Biden program — who have already left the country or are planning to do so.

Faced with the threat of deportation, the suspension of several other programs in favor of migrants and the uncertainties surrounding the maintenance of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which benefits more than 500,000 Haitians, the pressure is increasing.

“I know beneficiaries of the Biden program who have already bought properties in the United States or started, or even completed, studies. Some of them have lost everything in Haiti because of the insecurity and have nowhere to go,” he explains.

According to Julien, the current climate within the Haitian community in the United States is reminiscent of « the psychosis of fear that followed the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. »

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Jean-Philippe Crepsac, 54, an entrepreneur and film professional, left Haiti in December 2023 with the hope of achieving greater economic stability.

A few months before his departure, he had to close his restaurant located on the Frères Road, due to a drop in customers.

A year later, however, he was back in Port-au-Prince.

Without family in Florida, he recounts a reality that quickly caught up with him. His meager savings were quickly depleted by rent and living expenses.

And this is happening within a migratory context that he considers fragile.

In Haiti, alongside his restaurant, Crepsac pursued other income-generating activities. But in the United States, he says, the situation is quite different: « With irregular status, it’s practically impossible to start a business. »

Today, he says he finds himself forced to live with relatives since his return to Haiti. “Leaving home does not always guarantee success,” Crepsac believes.

According to Frandley Denis Julien, faced with uncertainties, some Haitian migrants in the United States are now considering Chile or Canada, but the arrival of a right-wing president in Chile and the tightening of migration policies in Canada are raising new concerns.

Ovsen Louissaint, 31, told AyiboPost that he left the United States for Colombia in August 2025, after entering the country a year earlier as a beneficiary of the Biden program.

“Mentally, I was not at ease. The anxiety was constant, especially regarding the treatment of Haitian migrants,” he told AyiboPost.

The man says he knows four other members of his family, who also returned under the same program, and who have already left the country.

Frandley Denis Julien criticizes the attitude of the Haitian government regarding the situation of migrants.

In normal times, he said, the Haitian government should be negotiating with US authorities on the status of these people in the current context, while preparing the necessary arrangements to receive those who would be expelled or forced to return to the country.

Among them, the lawyer told AyiboPost, are people who have already committed crimes, but also others with useful skills.

“The government must intervene,” he believes. But for now, none of this is being done, laments Frandley Denis Julien.

By : Lucnise Duquereste & Wethzer Piercin

Cover | A man standing with a hat on his head and a bag on his back. Photo : freepik