U.S. resumes deportations to Haiti

MIAMI, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A reprieve on deporting illegal Haitian immigrants back to their storm-ravaged country has ended, U.S. immigration authorities say.

The three-month pause was meant as a humanitarian gesture to spare deportees from being sent into desperate conditions in their homeland, brought about by a series of windstorms and hurricanes this year. But now, U.S. officials are resuming the deportations, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

"We determined that it was appropriate to resume based on the circumstances in Haiti," Nicole Navas, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the newspaper. "The individuals being returned have final orders of removal and the necessary travel documents."

The storms left at least 800 people dead, tens of thousands homeless and caused about $1 billion in damages but little has improved since then, advocates say.

"The decision to resume deportations to Haiti shocks the conscience," Randolph McGrorty, executive director of Catholic Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami, told the Herald. "Deportations at this time are simply inhumane, sending people to conditions of famine and disease. The change in policy is unwarranted by reports on the ground which confirm that the humanitarian crisis in Haiti continues and worsens."