At least 500 children born to Haitian parents outside Haiti, holders of foreign nationality, are among the thousands deported to Haiti over the past month, according to a report released last Wednesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The document lists 10,831 migrants who have returned to Haiti since September 19 to date, who have been deported mainly from the United States, as well as other countries in the region.

Among them, there are 1,789 minors, including 500 born in the countries where their parents have resided in recent years, the vast majority in Chile and Brazil, countries which grant nationality to those born in their territory.

Among the deportees, there were 404 Chileans, 84 Brazilians, 6 Venezuelans, 2 Ecuadorians, 1 Panamanian, 1 Honduran, 1 Dominican and 1 Nicaraguan, according to the IOM.

Among the deportees were also unaccompanied children, whose family reunification is uncertain in some cases, even due to the refusal of their own parents to take them back, according to the international organization.

Of the total deportees during this month, 6,586 are men (60.8%), 2,456 are women (22.7%) and 1,789 are minors (16.5%).

73% of the migrants, a total of 7,915, were deported from the United States, in addition to the other 406 intercepted at sea and returned by the Coast Guard.

11% (1,194) were deported from Cuba, 10% (1,031) from the Bahamas, 2% (248) from Mexico and less than 1% from the Turks and Caicos (37).

The deportees from Cuba are people who left Haiti in early September, fleeing areas devastated by the August 14 earthquake.

IOM figures do not include people deported by land from the Dominican Republic, from which hundreds of undocumented Haitians are deported each month who enter the country irregularly.

HL/ S/ Haitilibre