For Haitian diaspora, gang violence back home is personal as hopes dim for eventual return
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Gang violence wracking Haiti has reverberated among the more than 1 million Haitians who left their country for Brazil, Chile, Mexico and the United States. Many feel helpless when they call terrified family members back home who can’t leave the violence-torn nation because airports are closed and crossing the Florida Straits by sea to the United States is considered too risky. President Joe Biden’s carrot-and-stick approach to immigration of promoting legal pathways and discouraging illegal crossings has largely worked as intended with Haitians. That’s despite critics of his unprecedented use of “parole” authority to grant entry on humanitarian grounds.