Line in the Land

When 16,000 Haitians arrived in Del Rio, Texas in September 2021, the humanitarian crisis made international headlines. But the unlikely spectacle at the Texas-Mexico border was just a glimpse of an immigration journey like no other – one that extends more than 10,000 miles, from the rubble of the 2010 Haitian earthquake, through South America… all the way to Del Rio and the Houston suburbs. In this special broadcast, Texas Public Radio and the Houston Chronicle explore the human story behind this Haitian odyssey, along with the seismic forces at play – immigration policies, U.S.-Haiti relations and the unfulfilled promise to rebuild Haiti.

After displacement from Haiti, an exodus from South America and an epic journey through the Americas, what became of Haitians’ American dream? In this final episode of Line in the Land, Dachka, Jean Jeanbaptiste and others explain where they ended up.

Después de ser desplazados de Haití, un éxodo hacía Sudamérica y una travesía épica a través de las Américas ¿qué fue del American dream para los haitianos? En este episodio final de La Línea, Dachka, Jeanbaptiste y otros explican donde se encuentran ahora.

When an earthquake devastated Haiti in 2010, the international community pledged billions of dollars toward recovery. Much of that aid never went to rebuilding Haiti – or even to the Haitian people. But Haiti’s instability goes back even farther. In fact, it has a great deal to do with outside political forces dating back to the country’s origin story as the world’s first Black republic. That story, in episode four of Line in the Land.

To get to the U.S. border from South America, Haitians must journey on foot through an isolated stretch of jungle called the Darién Gap. This unruly path from northern Colombia to southern Panama is a literal gap in the Pan-American Highway, teeming with venomous animals, armed groups and rushing rivers. In episode three of Line in the Land, Haitian migrants take listeners with them on a forested journey like no other.

South America became a haven for many Haitians displaced by the devastating earthquake of 2010. But, as Black migrants from an impoverished country, Haitians were also among the most vulnerable immigrant populations. In this second episode of Line in the Land, Haitians tell their stories of a decade of migration across the Americas — and how countries that initially welcomed them, ultimately shut their doors.

When thousands of Haitians – like Dachka and Exode – arrived in the unlikely border town of Del Rio, Texas, they hoped they were crossing the finish line of an arduous immigration journey. But when the U.S. started flying some families back to Haiti (including their South American children) migrants were forced to make a critical decision: stay in the U.S. migrant camp and risk expulsion – or return to Mexico.