Trump administration tells Congress it plans to label Haitian gangs as
foreign terror organizations
[April 30, 2025]
By MICHELLE L. PRICE and FARNOUSH AMIRI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has told Congress that it
intends to designate Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations,
people familiar with the notification told The Associated Press.
The State Department similarly labeled eight Latin American crime
organizations in February as it ratcheted up pressure on cartels
operating in the U.S. and anyone assisting them. The new move indicates
that the administration plans to put similar pressure on gangs from
Haiti. The designation carries with it sanctions and penalties for
anyone providing “material support” for the group.
It comes after a series of steps against the Venezuelan gang Tren de
Aragua, which was designated a foreign terror organization and then
dubbed an invading force under an 18th-century wartime law to justify
the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison
under President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
That invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is significant because it gives
the president wide powers to imprison and deport noncitizens who
otherwise would have the right to ask for asylum in the U.S. or have
their cases heard in immigration courts.
Trump, at a rally in Michigan on Tuesday, touted his designation of the
six Latin American crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations,
including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.
“They’ve been designated the highest level of terrorist, and that lets
us do a lot of things that you wouldn’t be able to do,” Trump said.
Notifying Congress about plan for Haitian gangs
According to the notification sent to congressional committees on April
23, the Trump administration said it intends to designate the Haitian
gangs Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as foreign terrorist organizations,
according to two people familiar with the message, who spoke on
condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made
public.
A third person confirmed that the foreign relations committees in the
House and Senate received the notification. The State Department and the
White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The designation follows a Trump administration move in February to nix
protections that shielded half a million Haitians from deportation.
Tens of thousands of Haitians came to the United States under a
Biden-era program permitting people from four countries including Haiti
to stay for two years provided they had a financial sponsor and bought
their own plane ticket. The Trump administration terminated that program
and is seeking to revoke the status of those admitted under the Biden
administration.
The foreign terrorist organization label has typically been reserved for
groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State group, but applying it to
Haitian gangs means that the Trump White House is expanding the
longstanding U.S. definition of foreign terrorism.
The gangs are behind attacks in Haiti
Viv Ansanm, which means “Living Together,” is a powerful gang coalition
that formed in September 2023 and is best known for launching a series
of attacks starting in February 2024 across Port-au-Prince and beyond
that shuttered Haiti’s main international airport for nearly three
months, freed hundreds of inmates from the country’s two biggest prisons
and eventually forced former Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.
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President Donald Trump arrives to speak on his first 100 days at
Macomb County Community College Sports Expo Center, Tuesday, April
29, 2025, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The coalition united more than a dozen gangs, including two of
Haiti’s biggest ones: G-9 and G-Pèp, which were fierce rivals.
Gangs control at least 85% of Haiti’s capital, with Viv Ansanm
attacking once peaceful communities in recent weeks in a bid to
control even more territory.
Gran Grif, also known as the Savien gang, forms part of the Viv
Ansanm coalition and is led by Luckson Elan, best known as “General
Luckson.” It is the biggest gang operating in Haiti’s central
Artibonite region with some 100 members.
It was blamed for an attack in the town of Pont-Sondé in October
2024 in which more than 70 people were killed in one of the biggest
massacres in Haiti’s recent history.
Gran Grif also was blamed for a recent attack in the Petite Riviere
community in which several people were killed, including an
11-year-old child.
Gran Grif was formed after Prophane Victor, an ex-member of Haiti’s
Parliament who represented the Petite Riviere community in
Artibonite, began arming young men in the region, according to a
U.N. report. Victor was arrested in January.
Canada sanctioned him in June 2023, as did the U.S. in September
2024, accusing him of supporting gangs “that have committed serious
human rights abuse.”
Gangs' impact on Haiti
More than 5,600 people were killed across Haiti last year, with gang
violence leaving more than 1 million homeless in the country of
nearly 12 million people, according to the U.N.
While much of the violence has occurred in Port-au-Prince, gangs
recently struck the city of Mirebalais in Haiti’s central region and
freed more than 500 inmates from a local prison. They also attacked
the nearby town of Saut d’Eau, considered sacred by the thousands of
Haitians who travel there yearly for a Vodou-Catholic pilgrimage.
Gangs also have seized more control in Port-au-Prince, killing more
than 260 people in Kenscoff and Carrefour earlier this year. The
U.N. political mission in Haiti noted that it took the country’s
military, police and a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police
roughly five hours to respond to those attacks.
Hunger also has surged to record levels as a result of the
persistent gang violence, with more than half of Haiti’s population
expected to experience severe hunger through June, and 8,400 people
living in makeshift shelters projected to starve.
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Amiri reported from the United Nations. AP writers Danica Coto in
San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed
to this report.
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