Cap-Haitien, Haiti (AP) — The United States deported more than 160 people to Haiti on Thursday, the first flight since the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. The plane landed in Cap-Haitien because the main airport in Port-au-Prince remains unsafe due to ongoing gang violence. A ban on U.S. commercial flights to Port-au-Prince through early September further limited options.

Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, director general of Haiti’s National Office of Migration, said the government welcomes the returnees and will try to help them reach their homes. He noted that some deportees are not Haitian citizens but have Haitian ancestry. Officials offered each person up to $65 and basic food and drink, and said those unable to travel immediately would be housed in secure facilities.

Most of the deportees declined to speak, citing fear of gang retaliation in a city where gangs control an estimated 70 percent of Port-au-Prince. Some individuals said they had lived legally in the United States under TPS since 2010, while others had served prison sentences. One deportee, identified as Jean Diane Louis, said he left Haiti as a child and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for a crime he said he did not commit.

Activists warn that Haiti’s current security situation and limited resources make reintegration difficult. The United Nations estimates that gang violence has displaced more than 1.5 million people and caused more than 3,100 deaths between January and June. The United States has conducted only a handful of deportation flights to Haiti since December 2023, according to Human Rights First.

U.S. immigration officials also arrested a Haitian pastor and another man in Springfield, Ohio, on Thursday. The pastor’s organization said the arrests reflected heightened immigration enforcement in the area.

The Haitian group Supporting Refugees and Returnees said the deportations add to a growing humanitarian challenge and called for measures to assist the arrivals.

U.S. authorities have not disclosed how many of the 161 deportees were TPS holders. The Supreme Court’s June decision allowed the TPS program to end, affecting about 1 million people from multiple countries. Lower courts have since permitted the government to resume deportations.

The Haitian government has not announced a plan to receive and support the new arrivals, leaving the future of their integration uncertain.