Haiti: deported to the land of the ‘tontons-macoutes’
Definitions, legal, historical and institutional frameworks.
Temporary Protected Status
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a temporary status granted in the United States to certain nationals of designated countries when exceptional conditions make return difficult or dangerous. A designation may be linked to armed conflict, an environmental disaster or other extraordinary and temporary circumstances.
TPS protects against removal for as long as it remains valid and, subject to conditions, allows beneficiaries to obtain work authorisation. It is neither asylum nor, in itself, an automatic route to permanent residence. A beneficiary may nevertheless have another legal basis on which to seek a different status.
Haiti has been subject to several designations and extensions since the 2010 earthquake. US policy subsequently went through successive decisions to extend, reduce and terminate the scheme. This history explains why a Haitian national living in the United States cannot be inferred from nationality alone.
The temporary nature of TPS is central. It provides protection for a defined period but does not, by itself, resolve the question of long-term settlement. The end of a designation can therefore require people who have been present for several years to find another status or leave the country.
Haitian diaspora in the United States
The Haitian presence in the United States results from several waves of migration and a wide variety of legal statuses. It includes US citizens of Haitian origin, permanent residents, current or former TPS beneficiaries, asylum seekers, people admitted under humanitarian programmes and nationals without regular status.
Florida, New York, Massachusetts and several other states are home to substantial Haitian communities. Links with Haiti run through families, associations, churches, businesses, media, political mobilisation and remittances. The diaspora therefore contributes to Haiti’s economic and social life while also shaping American society.
This diversity makes it impossible to speak of a single legal situation for Haitians in the United States. A measure affecting TPS does not have the same consequences for a US citizen, a permanent resident or a person whose right to remain depended on that protection.
Deportations reveal another distinction. The country of nationality may remain a place of family and memory without being the place where a person has built their everyday life. Diaspora does not erase nationality; it complicates what return means in practice.
Deportation and forced return
Deportation is a decision by which a state orders a foreign national to leave its territory. Forced return refers to enforcing that decision when departure is not voluntary. Neither concept, by itself, explains why the person is being removed or what avenues of appeal were available.
In principle, the country of nationality is expected to readmit its nationals. That legal proposition does not determine the conditions of return. A person may have left the country long ago, no longer have housing or income there, find only a diminished family network, or arrive in a region where security has deteriorated sharply.
In the Haitian case, the distinction between the legality of removal and the conditions of reintegration is particularly important. US authorities determine the right to remain in the United States. Haitian authorities and organisations on the ground must then manage arrival, identification, immediate needs and, where resources allow, support towards resettlement.
Forced return must therefore not be confused with voluntary return. The former results from a decision by the state of departure; the latter presupposes a decision by the person concerned, even where that decision is made under economic or administrative pressure.
Tontons-macoutes: state violence under the Duvaliers
The term ‘tontons-macoutes’ commonly refers to the militia created under François Duvalier and formalised as the Volontaires de la sécurité nationale. It was a coercive instrument of the Duvalier regime and remained associated with repression under Jean-Claude Duvalier.
The militia operated within an authoritarian system of power. Intimidation, arrests, torture, killings and local control helped protect the regime and neutralise its opponents. In Haitian memory, the term thus became a name for political violence exercised by armed men linked to those in power.
The armed groups that control territories in Haiti today are not the tontons-macoutes. Their structures, funding, alliances and relations with institutions differ. Using the expression to describe the present can therefore only be a comparison rooted in memory, never an assertion of historical identity.
The distinction is necessary for understanding the contemporary crisis. Present-day violence may recall experiences of fear, territorial control or arbitrariness without reproducing the political organisation of the Duvalier dictatorship.