Since the country’s devastating earthquake in 2010, which killed more than 200,000 people, tens of thousands of Haitians have fled their crisis-burdened homeland, many traveling to parts of South America. Throughout this year many more have fled, joining previous Haitian expats who have not yet found places to settle—as well as migrants and asylum seekers from many other countries—to make the challenging journey north to the United States border. Individuals and families hoping for new opportunities and a better life have passed through Colombia, entering Panama and traversing Central America. The trip is dangerous, full of obstacles, and covers thousands of miles, some of it through roadless jungle. The arrival of a large group of migrants who recently made it to the U.S. border near Del Rio, Texas, grabbed national headlines, but they have since dispersed—thousands were reportedly released into the United States, more than 4,000 were deported to Haiti, and most of the rest are traveling back into Mexico for the moment. Gathered below are images from recent months of some of the thousands of Haitians (and others) making their perilous trip north.
Photos: The Arduous Journey of the Haitian Migrants
-
![A group of migrants from Haiti walk along a riverbank in a jungle.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants cross the jungle of the Darien Gap, near Acandi, Choco department, Colombia, heading to Panama, on September 26, 2021, trying to reach the U.S. From Acandi, they started on foot, armed with machetes, lanterns, and tents, braving the dangerous five-day trek into Panama through the jungle. They have had to battle snakes, steep ravines, swollen rivers, tropical downpours, and criminals, many of whom are linked to drug trafficking. #
Raul Arboleda / AFP / Getty -
-
![An aerial view of the small coastal town of Necocli, Colombia]()
Read moreAn aerial view of Necocli, Colombia, on September 23, 2021. Thousands of migrants were stranded in the Colombian port town as they waited for boats to cross into neighboring Panama on their way to the United States, a state relief agency said. #
Raul Arboleda / AFP / Getty -
![A group of people walk in a line along a dock to a waiting passenger boat.]()
Read moreMigrants, mostly Haitians headed toward Panama, board a boat in Necocli, Colombia, bound for Acandi, on September 23, 2021. #
Luisa Gonzalez / Reuters -
![Haitian migrants hold their children as they sit in a boat.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants hold their children as they sit in a boat in Acandi, sailing toward Colombia's border with Panama, on September 25, 2021. #
Raul Arboleda / AFP / Getty -
-
![Haitian migrants lift their legs as they cross a river on horse-drawn wagons.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants cross a river in Acandi, Colombia, on horse-drawn wagons before heading to the border with Panama, on September 25, 2021. #
Raul Arboleda / AFP / Getty -
![A group of migrants cross a river.]()
Read moreA Haitian migrant woman carries a toddler as she crosses the jungle of the Darien Gap, near Acandi, Colombia, on September 26, 2021, on their way toward the U.S. #
Raul Arboleda / AFP / Getty -
![People climb a steep muddy path.]()
Read moreA Haitian woman is helped by fellow migrants on a muddy path in the jungle of the Darien Gap, near Acandi, on September 26, 2021. #
Raul Arboleda / AFP / Getty -
-
![A group of migrants cross a river in a small boat.]()
Read moreA group of migrants cross the Chucunaque River in Darien province, Panama, on August 22, 2021. #
Rogelio Figueroa / AFP / Getty -
![Soldiers help a woman and a child across a shallow part of a river.]()
Read moreMembers of Panama's National Border Service help migrants cross the Chucunaque River in Bajo Chiquito village, Darien province, Panama, on February 10, 2021. #
Luis Acosta / AFP / Getty -
![A view of a couple dozen tents set up in a migrant camp]()
Read moreA view of a migrant camp in Bajo Chiquito village, Panama, on February 10, 2021 #
Luis Acosta / AFP / Getty -
-
![A woman and a child sit together beside a wall.]()
Read moreA woman and a child wait to be transported from Bajo Chiquito village to the Migrants Reception Station in Lajas Blancas, Darien province, in Panama, on August 23, 2021. #
Rogelio Figueroa / AFP / Getty -
![People stand in a long line in a vilage, waiting for transport.]()
Read moreMigrants wait in a line to be transported from Bajo Chiquito village to the Migrants Reception Station in Lajas Blancas, Panama, on August 23, 2021. #
Rogelio Figueroa / AFP / Getty -
![Several men stand together in a government office, waiting.]()
Read moreIn Trojes municipality, Honduras, on the border with Nicaragua, migrants wait at the migration office with the hope of getting a safeguard to continue on their way in a caravan heading to the United States, on April 21, 2021. #
Orlando Sierra / AFP / Getty -
-
![A man sits in a courtyard with a child on his knees.]()
Read moreA Haitian migrant, hoping to reach the U.S.-Mexico border, spends time with a child at the Jesus Esta Vivo shelter in Danli, Honduras, on September 22, 2021. #
Elmer Martinez / AP -
![A large group of people walks along a highway. One carries a Haitian flag.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants walk along the highway in Huixtla, Chiapas state, Mexico, on September 2, 2021, on their journey toward the U.S. #
Marco Ugarte / AP -
![A man cries out as he is being forced into a van by government agents.]()
Read moreMexican immigration agents detain a Haitian migrant in Escuintla, Chiapas state, Mexico, on September 2, 2021. #
Marco Ugarte / AP -
-
![Hundreds of people line the banks of a river, many of them crossing by wading through shallow water along the top of a submerged weir dam.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants cross to and from the United States from Mexico, walking along a weir dam on the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas, on September 17, 2021. #
Eric Gay / AP -
![Two U.S. Border Patrol officers on horseback challenge a group of migrants in shallow water.]()
Read moreU.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, on September 19, 2021. #
Felix Marquez / AP -
![Several groups of migrants carry food across a river.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants, part of a group of more than 10,000 people staying in an encampment on the U.S. side of the border, cross the Rio Grande to get food and water in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, on September 19, 2021. #
Paul Ratje / AFP / Getty -
-
![Three U.S. Border Patrol agents float in an airboat on the Rio Grande river.]()
Read moreBorder Patrol agents watch as Haitian migrants cross the Rio Grande back into Mexico from Del Rio, Texas, on September 20, 2021. As U.S. immigration authorities began deporting migrants to Haiti from Del Rio, thousands more waited in a camp under an international bridge in Del Rio, while others crossed the river back into Mexico to avoid deportation. #
John Moore / Getty -
![A man carries a small child on his shoulders as he and others cross a river. The child is visibly upset.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants cross the Rio Grande back into Mexico from Del Rio, Texas, on September 20, 2021. #
John Moore / Getty -
![An aerial view of a migrant camp.]()
Read moreMigrants are seen in an encampment along the Del Rio International Bridge near the Rio Grande, in Del Rio, Texas, on September 21, 2021. #
Julio Cortez / AP -
-
![A long line of parked Texas Department of Safety vehicles is seen along the Rio Grande river.]()
Read moreDozens of Texas Department of Safety vehicles line up on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, with Mexico visible at right, near an encampment of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, on September 22, 2021. #
Julio Cortez / AP -
![A volunteer cooks chicken on a grill, to give to migrants.]()
Read morePastor Marco Antonio Muniz cooks chicken for Haitian migrants in the Parque Ecologico Braulio Fernandez in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, on September 22, 2021. #
Paul Ratje / AFP / Getty -
![A man is seen in silhouette against evening sunlight.]()
Read moreA Haitian migrant is silhouetted on an improvised pitch during a game of soccer as the sun sets at a camp in Ciudad Acuña, on September 22, 2021. #
Fernando Llano / AP -
-
![A group of migrants stand together, listening to a news report.]()
Read moreHaitians listen to news from Mexican National Institute of Migration officials on September 23, 2021 in Parque Ecologico Braulio Fernandez, where Haitian migrants who abandoned the large camp in Del Rio, Texas, started settling. NIM officials came to the camp during the day to try to persuade migrants to leave the park on buses, and to be transported to Tapachula, but most of them refused. #
Paul Ratje / AFP / Getty -
![A group of people wade across a river at night.]()
Read moreHaitian migrants cross the Rio Grande, as seen from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, on September 23, 2021. #
Pedro Pardo / AFP / Getty -
![A border patrol officer lifts a child into a boat.]()
Read moreU.S. Customs and Border Protection agents rescue a young Haitian migrant from the Rio Grande at the Mexico-U.S. border near Ciudad Acuña, on September 23, 2021. #
Pedro Pardo / AFP / Getty -
-
![A child peeks out from inside a tent.]()
Read moreA Haitian boy peers from a tent at the Terraza Fandango shelter, in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, on September 25, 2021. #
Pedro Pardo / AFP / Getty -
![A Humvee sits parked in an empty lot near a bridge.]()
Read moreA U.S. National Guard Humvee sits parked in an empty space where an encampment of about 15,000 Haitians was located only days before, under the Del Rio Port of Entry, which reopened after being closed for more than a week, on September, 25, 2021. #
Paul Ratje / AFP / Getty -
![A man gathers with many other migrants, reading messages on his phone.]()
Read moreSelomourd Menrrivil, from Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, looks at his cellphone as he gathers with other migrants in Monterrey, Mexico, on September 23, 2021. Menrrivil, 43, continued receiving daily updates all week from other Haitians in Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña, after arriving with his wife and two teen daughters, and has decided to legalize his status in Mexico. #
Marcos Martinez Chacon / AP -
-
![People walk down steps from a passenger aircraft.]()
Read moreHaitians who were deported from the United States deplane at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on September 19, 2021. #
Joseph Odelyn / AP -
![A man gestures to migrants boarding buses.]()
Read moreA member of the Border Humanitarian Coalition (right) guides migrants, mostly from Haiti, as they are released from United States Border Patrol custody upon crossing the Texas-Mexico border in search of asylum in Del Rio, Texas, on September 22, 2021. #
Julio Cortez / AP -
![A woman carries a child as she boards a bus.]()
Read moreA child sleeps on the shoulder of a woman as they prepare to board a bus to San Antonio, moments after a group of migrants, many from Haiti, were released from custody upon crossing the Texas-Mexico border in search of asylum, in Del Rio, Texas, on September 22, 2021. #
Julio Cortez / AP -
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected].