Washington (AP) – Trump administration told Congress that it intended to designate Haitian gangs as a foreign terrorist organization, people familiar with the notification to the Associated Press said.
The State Department also labeled Eight criminal organizations from Latin America In February like that pressure through On the cartels operating in the United States and anyone who helps them. The new decision indicates that the administration plans to make similar pressure on the gangs of Haiti. The designation includes sanctions and penalties for anyone providing “material support” to the group.
He comes after a series of measures against the Venezuelan gang Tren of Aragua, which was appointed a foreign terrorist organization, then nicknamed a force of invasion under a 18th century warfare law To justify the expulsion of Venezuelan migrants El Salvador prison Under the repression of the immigration of President Donald Trump.
That Invocation of the Act respecting extraterrestrial enemies is significant because it gives the president large powers to imprison and expel non-citizens who otherwise have the right to ask for asylum in the United States or to make their business heard before the immigration courts.
Trump, during a rally in Michigan on Tuesday, praised his designation of the six criminal groups in Latin America as a foreign terrorist organization, including MS-13 and Tren of Aragua.
“They were designated the highest level of terrorist, which allows us to do a lot of things you could not do,” said Trump.
Inform the congress of the plan for Haitian gangs
According to the notification sent to Congress Committees on April 23, the Trump administration said it intended to designate the Haitian gangs VIV ANSANM and GRAN GRIF as foreign terrorist organizations, according to two families familiar with the message, which spoke under the cover of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made public.
A third person confirmed that the committees of foreign relations in the Chamber and the Senate had received the notification. The State Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
The designation follows a move from the Trump administration in February to Nix protections which protected half a million Haitians from the deportation.
Tens of thousands of Aïtians came to the United States under a Biden era program allowing people from four countries Including Haiti to stay for two years provided they have a financial sponsor and bought their own plane ticket. The Trump administration has ended this program and seeks to revoke the status of admitted persons as part of the Biden administration.
The foreign terrorist organization label has generally been reserved for groups like Al-Qaida or the Islamic State group, but applying it to Haitian gangs means that the Trump White House extends the long-standing American definition of foreign terrorism.
The gangs are behind attacks in Haiti
VIV Ansanm, which means “living together”, is a powerful gang coalition which formed in September 2023 and is best known for having launched a series of attacks from February 2024 through Port-au-Prince and beyond that of the main prisons of Haiti for almost three months, released hundreds of detainees from the two largest prisons in the country and finally forced the former Minister Ariel Ariel resign.
The united coalition of more than a dozen gangs, including two of the largest in Haiti: G-9 and G-Pèp, which were ferocious rivals.
The gangs control at least 85% of the capital of Haiti, VIV Ansanm formerly attacking peaceful communities in recent weeks in order to control even more territory.
Gran Grif, also known as Gang Savien, is part of the VIV ANSANM coalition and is directed by Luckson Elan, better known as “General Luckson”. It is the largest gang operating in the Central Artibonite region of Haiti with a hundred members.
He was blamed for an attack in the city of Pont-Sondé in October 2024 in which more than 70 people were killed in one of the greatest massacres in recent history in Haiti.
Gran Grif was also blamed for a recent attack in the small river community in which several people were killed, including an 11 -year -old child.
Gran Grif was formed after Prophane Victor, a former member of the Parliament of Haiti, who represented the small community river in Arbonite, began to arm the young men in the region, according to a UN report. Victor was arrested in January.
Canada sanctioned him in June 2023, as was the United States in September 2024, accusing him of supporting gangs “which committed serious abuse of human rights”.
Impact of gangs on Haiti
According to the UN, more than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti, with gang violence leaving more than a million homeless in the country of almost 12 million people, according to the UN
While a large part of violence occurred in Port-au-Prince, Gangs recently hit the city of Mirebalais in the central region of Haiti and released more than 500 detainees from a local prison. They also attacked the neighboring city of jumping, considered sacred by the thousands of Haitians who travel there every year for a voodoo-Catholic pilgrimage.
The gangs also took more control in Port-au-Prince, killing more than 260 people in Kenscoff and Carrefour earlier this year. The United Nations Political Mission in Haiti noted that the country’s soldiers, the police and a mission supported by the UN led by Kenyan police, had to respond to these attacks.
Hunger has also increased to record levels following the persistent violence of the gangs, with more than half of the population of Haiti which should undergo severe hunger until June and 8,400 people living in fortune shelters projected to die of hunger.
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Amiri reported the United Nations. The AP Danica Coto screenwriters in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed to this report.
