Edrisse Michelin, sent back to Haiti after a federal conviction, describes a painful return to the country he left as a toddler and warns that thousands of Haitian families could face similar upheaval.
“Your feet are shackled together, your ankles are getting cut up, your hands are shackled,” he recalled. Officials, he said, instructed passengers how to use safety equipment “if there’s a plane crash,” prompting him to ask, “How are we gonna do that?”
The couple has been moving between towns as they try to adjust. They traveled by helicopter to Port-au-Prince, then boarded a bus to reach Petit-Goâve, where some of Michelin’s relatives live. Still, he says, daily life is difficult for both longtime residents and returnees. “The people work hard,” he said. “But they’re trying to overcome obstacles… and they haven’t quite fully understood how to overcome these obstacles.”
Even he, a Haitian-born man, is struggling. “I speak a little bit of Creole, and I’m struggling,” he admitted.
On Instagram, the Michelins document their daily challenges in hopes of helping other mixed-status families grasp the realities of deportation. They have eight children between them — children he hasn’t seen in years.
Their goal now is to secure a visa elsewhere and reunite as a family. But with few countries processing applications from Haitians, the couple remains stuck between the familiar and the foreign, unsure of what comes next.
RELATED CONTENT: Elevate Your Excellence: Dr. Marta Moreno Vega Is The Architect Of Afro-Latin Cultural Equity
Source: Black Enterprise
