Naïka criticizes DHS deportation Video, defends Haitian migrants
Franco-Haitian singer Naïka, known for blending English, French, and Creole in her music, used her platform this week to condemn the treatment of Haitian deportees following the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.
In an emotional video posted to Instagram, Naïka reacted to footage originally shared by the Department of Homeland Security’s official account (@dhsgov), which showed Haitian migrants, restrained at the wrists, boarding a repatriation flight. The DHS clip was captioned “HAITI REPATRIATION FLIGHT,” and included the phrase “TEMPORARY MEANT TEMPORARY” superimposed over the footage, a reference to the expiration of TPS.
“They are deporting Haitians back to Haiti now that TPS has come to an end,” Naïka said at the start of her video.
Visibly frustrated, she responded directly to the government’s framing. Advocates and community members have described TPS holders as living with fear and uncertainty since the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to end the protection, warning that Haiti remains dangerous due to gang violence, political instability, and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Naïka echoed those concerns in personal terms, telling viewers it is “pure luck to be born in a country” that doesn’t force someone to risk their life fleeing “ somewhere that you don’t even know, just for a chance at survival.“
She went on to criticize what she called a broader effort to turn people against one another: “What kills me is that there’s so many people that are brainwashed… when we know how much information we’re being fed to divide us and pit us” against each other.
The singer also invoked Haiti’s history, reminding her audience that Haiti is “the first freed Black nation in the Western Hemisphere,” the only successful slave rebellion in modern history to result in the founding of a state.
Naïka’s video adds a prominent cultural voice to a wider outcry from Haitian communities and advocates in the United States since TPS protections for Haitian nationals were allowed to lapse.
The video underscores a growing tension between the administration’s public messaging around the deportation flights and the reaction from artists, advocates, and members of the Haitian diaspora, who argue the imagery of shackled deportees trivializes what they describe as a humanitarian crisis.
