Haitian immigrants share how they came to the United States legally
Local Haitian immigrants talk about how they came to the United States legally under a Biden-era program
- The Record investigated and uncovered the systematic detention of men deported to Haiti and extortion of their families in the U.S. for thousands of dollars
- For months, the men grappled with extreme overcrowding, lack of food and clean water and a cholera outbreak that killed a Florida man.
After a three-year battle to stay in the United States, immigration authorities deported Patrick Julney in June 2022 to Haiti. The New Jersey resident, whose came to the U.S. as a young child, was imprisoned upon arrival in Port-au-Prince in conditions so poor the UN said they amount to torture. While imprisoned, his family back home was extorted for payment.
After news articles about Julney’s case, other families reached out to say their relatives had also been detained. The Record investigated and uncovered the systematic detention of men deported to Haiti and extortion of their families in the U.S. for thousands of dollars. For months, the men grappled with extreme overcrowding, lack of food and clean water and a cholera outbreak that killed a Florida man.
Reporting by Hannan Adely brought international attention and scrutiny to the illegal detention of deportees. Law clinics, human rights groups and members of Congress applied political pressure to stop the inhumane and illegal practice. Ultimately, the men were released, including at least two illegally detained New Jersey men from deplorable conditions in a Haitian prison.
Here is our coverage of the matter.
Originally published June 20, 2022.
New Jersey resident Patrick Julney, deported in June 2022, was trying to survive in a Haitian prison that he describes as a hellscape, a tangle of starved, sick and unwashed men, 30 or more to a cell with no food, clean water or recourse. Haitian police imprisoned him without explanation, and they have repeatedly contacted his wife demanding thousands of dollars for his release.
In 2022, Haitian police detained at least 20 criminal deportees and demanded money from their families. Julney, a legal resident of the U.S., was deported after serving jail sentences for drug and robbery convictions. These deportees are paying a disproportionate price for past crimes, condemned to one of the world’s most overcrowded prison systems. Read more: ‘Being held for ransom’: Deported NJ man now jailed in notorious Haitian prison
Originally published July 22, 2022.
Immigrant advocates launched a “call to action” urging members to contact state and federal officials to demand freedom for immigrants who were recently been deported to Haiti and thrown into prison in the Caribbean nation. Read more: ‘Bring Patrick home’: Groups pushing to free NJ man, other deportees from Haitian prison
Originally published Aug. 19, 2022.
Haitian authorities routinely put criminal deportees — immigrants who completed sentences in the U.S. for a wide range of crimes — into prison. But pressure is growing to stop the illegal practice, as activists groups pressured the Biden Administrations, Congress and Haitian ambassador to free the men. While public pressures grows, more families come forward to say their loved ones were also deported and then detained in prison in Port-au-Prince. Read more: ‘It’s beyond hell up in there’: Families to rally for freedom for deportees in Haitian prison
Originally published Oct. 15, 2022
Roody Fogg, 40, died and two other deportees were severely ill just months after the U.S. sent them to Haiti, where they were imprisoned without charge. “There was no medical care for him when he was sick,” Fogg’s mother said. “If there was medicine, he wouldn’t have died … There, it’s like they threw him in a corner.” Read more: ‘They threw him in a corner’: After cholera outbreak, one deportee is dead, two others ill in Haiti prison
Originally published Oct. 27, 2022
Two New Jersey men were freed from prison in Haiti, where they were among more than 30 deportees held in brutal conditions after they arrived in the Caribbean nation. Patrick Julney and Billy Balisage, both from Elizabeth, were released amid pressure from families and activists and media coverage about their illegal detention. “People that do care in the States, thank you for fighting for us,” said Patrick Julney, a New Jersey man deported in June 2022. “Keep fighting for us. Even if you don’t care, find a place in your heart to understand this prison is death.” Read more: ‘Prison is death’: NJ deportees freed from Haitian jail after suffering deplorable conditions
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