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Haiti’s second-largest city, Cap-Haïtien, is emerging as a critical pressure point in the nation’s humanitarian crisis. Once a relative haven from the gang violence ravaging the capital, the city is now grappling with an influx of deportees and displaced residents, highlighting the regional fallout from Haiti’s escalating instability.
The arrival of a U.S. deportation flight carrying 70 Haitians on Tuesday marked the resumption of repatriation operations following last month’s suspension of flights to Port-au-Prince. The northern city’s airport is now the country’s only operational gateway for international travel. However, residents and officials warn that the city lacks the infrastructure to cope with the growing demands.
Tuesday’s flight was the 298th deportation operation to Haiti under the Biden administration, which has returned nearly 28,000 Haitians to date. Meanwhile, Dominican deportations have far outpaced U.S. numbers, further straining Haiti’s border regions.
Cap-Haïtien is facing a cascade of challenges. Heavy rains in recent weeks triggered landslides and flooding, burying homes and cutting off access to some neighborhoods. The mayor, Yvrose Pierre, said the city is struggling to recover from the damage, with many areas inaccessible and streets choked with mud and debris.
The city has also become a destination for Haitians fleeing the escalating violence in Port-au-Prince, as well as migrants forcibly returned from the Dominican Republic, where nearly 50,000 Haitians were deported in October alone. Cap-Haïtien’s limited services are being overwhelmed, Pierre warned, calling for urgent support from Haiti’s central government and international partners.
The situation in Cap-Haïtien underscores the ripple effects of Haiti’s deepening national crisis. Gang violence in the capital has displaced more than 50,000 people in the past two weeks alone, according to the United Nations. Nearly 700,000 Haitians are now internally displaced, living in makeshift camps without access to basic necessities such as potable water or sanitation.
International agencies have struggled to provide aid, citing logistical challenges and funding shortfalls. Only 20% of Port-au-Prince is accessible to humanitarian workers, leaving cities like Cap-Haïtien to shoulder the burden. Grégoire Goodstein, head of the U.N. International Organization for Migration in Haiti, warned that without immediate support, the suffering will worsen.
Mayor Pierre is calling for urgent intervention to prevent further destabilization of Cap-Haïtien. While she credited her administration with dismantling local gangs in 2020, she warned that the city’s security forces are under-resourced and ill-equipped to maintain order as the population grows.
