According to the 156-page report of the Group of Experts of the United Nations (UN) which went to investigate in Haiti, migrant smuggling in Haiti has become a lucrative business facilitated by various Haitian agents and foreigners...

The Group indicates that actors involved in migrant smuggling include smugglers, corrupt officials (passports and visas), immigration officials, travel agents, charter flight operators and shipbuilders.

The experts traveled to Mexico, the United States, the Dominican Republic and Port-de-Paix, Haiti, to understand the impact of the Haitian crisis on migrants and refugees, and spoke with Haitian migrants, members of the diaspora, government officials, international organizations and local NGOs to gather information.

During their visit to Port-de-Paix, they were able to observe makeshift construction sites where boats were being built to transport migrants to the Bahamas and the United States.

“The boats cost between $25,000 and $50,000 and take about three months to build. Although the boats are designed to generally transport around twenty people, it is not uncommon for these boats, in the hands of smugglers, to often transport 80 or 100 passengers and sometimes more in inhumane travel conditions, without no safety, with a high risk of capsizing,” the report states.

Download the final report S/2023/674 English PDF 156 pages: https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/N2324628.pdf

In 2015 the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) produced an awareness video on the dangers of irregular migration by sea from Haiti. The documentary presents a series of direct testimonies from residents of Port-de-Paix and Tortue Island who attempted the perilous passages, testimonies which still remain relevant today.

In 2022 the cost of an illegal crossing at sea, without guarantee of arriving alive or not being intercepted by the coast guards, cost according to various criteria between US$350 and up to US$7,000 (Source Journal le Floridien March 2022).

S/ HaitiLibre