In recent weeks, the United Nations migration agency (IOM) has reported a troubling rise in the deportation of women — including those who are pregnant or breastfeeding — as well as young children and newborns back to Haiti, a country grappling with deepening humanitarian and security crises.
According to the Associated Press, the pregnant women are being deported from the Dominican Republic to Haiti, where they say their lives are being put at risk.
The IOM stressed the heightened risks these vulnerable groups face upon returning to Haiti, where access to basic services remains dangerously limited. On Tuesday alone, IOM teams at the Belladère border crossing received 416 deportees, among them 11 pregnant women and 16 breastfeeding mothers.
The same day, AP reported that the Dominican Republic’s migration agency arrested 48 pregnant women and 39 others who just gave birth, along with 48 minors. On Wednesday, agents arrested 78 other migrants at hospitals, although the agency didn’t provide additional details.
The increase in those deportations comes as the administration of Dominican President Luis Abinader implemented a new measure requiring hospital staff to ask patients for their identification, work permits, and proof of residence. The measure is one of more than a dozen announced earlier this month to crack down on migrants living in the Dominican Republic without legal permission.
Although IOM staff aren’t involved during the deportation process itself, they are working on the ground to meet the urgent needs of returnees. “Many arrive in precarious and highly vulnerable conditions, often without any resources,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said during a briefing in New York. Immediate humanitarian support, including food, water, hygiene kits, first aid, and psychosocial services, is being provided. Special attention is being given to maternal health, and temporary housing is arranged for breastfeeding mothers when needed.
The backdrop to this crisis is a worsening situation inside Haiti, especially in the Centre Department. Surging violence by armed groups has led to mass displacement, with more than 51,000 people — over half of them children — forced to flee recent attacks. Many are now stranded in makeshift camps or seeking shelter elsewhere.
Hospitals, once safe havens, are buckling under pressure. The University Hospital of Mirebalais, a critical 300-bed referral center, has been forced to shut down after waves of violence, a mass prison break, and the destruction of key public infrastructure. Before closing, the hospital treated nearly 850 patients daily, including those needing maternal care and advanced cancer treatment.
Nearby hospitals, such as St. Therese in Hinche and Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Artibonite, are now overwhelmed and suffering critical shortages of essential supplies like oxygen and emergency kits. Since the shutdown, they’ve treated more than 200 patients for gunshot wounds, strokes, suspected cholera, and malnutrition. St. Therese Hospital alone has seen its outpatient caseload triple after taking in more than 3,500 internally displaced people.
In response, UNICEF and humanitarian partners have launched mobile clinics aiming to serve 30,000 people across host communities and displacement camps, working alongside Haitian authorities and Caritas.
Yet, the broader humanitarian response remains critically underfunded. Of the $908 million needed to assist nearly four million people in Haiti this year, only six per cent — about $57 million — has been received so far.
