The Franciscan Action Network joins the Quixote Center in petitioning the Secretary of Homeland Security to act to stem violence in Haiti. 

All petition signatures will be added to the Quixote Center's Letter for delivery to the Honorable Krisiti Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, in early May 2025. Petition will remain open for signatures through: Friday May 9, 2025.

Thank you for acting to stem the violence in Haiti!

PETITION:

The Honorable Kristi Noem
Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
3801 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
 
RE: Suggested Actions to Stem Crisis in Haiti

Dear Secretary Noem,

We write as individuals concerned about the present conditions in Haiti, the individuals who face forced return from the United States, and the root causes of the violence and migration.

Armed groups now control over 90% of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as parts of the North of the country, terrorizing civilians with kidnappings, sexual violence, and indiscriminate killings.  At least 5,601 people were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence. Nearly half the population of the country require urgent humanitarian aid, with 1.6 million facing catastrophic food insecurity. Gang sieges and arson attacks have internally displaced over a million people, half of them children.
In this context, DHS has rescinded the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, which will end legal protections for Haitians in the United States on August 3, 2025.

It is impossible to return any person to this context, and yet over 500,000 Haitians who currently hold TPS are at risk of forced return to Haiti. The violence causing people to flee Haiti has its roots in the United States, and so our government has the power to end it. The illegal trafficking of weapons from the United States to Haiti is empowering Haitian gangs and fueling the violence. Guns and ammunition are not manufactured in Haiti, yet weak federal laws and oversight in the United States allow straw purchasers to continuously arm criminal organizations in Haiti and around the region, enabling the violence forcing Haitians to internally displace or flee their country.    
We urge you to take the following steps to protect Haitians as well as address the underlying causes of migration, including the flow of U.S. firearms and ammunition across the border and around the region:    

• Increase Customs and Border Protection resources dedicated to screening the contents of ships exiting via the Miami River Port, a primary starting point for firearm shipments to Haiti.
• Urge the President to issue an executive order to prevent assault rifles, .50 caliber rifles, and high-capacity magazines from getting into the hands of cartels and gangs.
• Work with the Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to implement a strategy to increase the number of firearms recovered in Haiti that are submitted for tracing similar to the work done recovering crime guns in Mexico.   
• Initiate an interagency strategy, together with the State Department, Commerce Department, and Department of Justice, to increase resources to stop the illegal flow of arms from the United States.
• Extend TPS to Haitians and end deportation flights until their country is a place to which they can return without reasonable expectation of "torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or other irreparable harm." (United Nations)

ADDITIONAL SPONSORS:

Quixote Center; Sisters of Charity New York; Seeds of Hope for Haiti, Inc; Faith in Action; Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters; Felician Sisters of North America; St Patrick St Anthony Parish; Mercy Justice Team; Sisters of Mercy; Nuns Against Gun Violence; Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Dominican Sisters of Sparkill; Passionists International; Rich in Mercy Institute; US Province of the Spiritans; Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati; Franciscan Peace Center; The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth; JCor; and, Sisters of Humility of Mary.