A Guardian analysis reveals how most of 39 countries facing US entry restrictions are most vulnerable environmentally

• ‘Every day it’s more barriers’: how the US is shutting out climate refugees

Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is largely targeting people from the countries most vulnerable to displacement from climate-driven disasters, a Guardian analysis shows.

As the Trump administration pushes policies to boost planet-heating fossil fuels, millions of people are being forced to flee their homelands due to storms, floods and droughts worsened by the climate crisis.

Cases reported in 83 countries, with at least 10,600 students and staff killed, injured, abducted or arrested, GCPEA says

Attacks on education globally have surged by 40% with more than 8,556 recorded incidents and 10,600 students and staff killed, injured, abducted, arrested or otherwise harmed in 2024 and 2025, according to new research.

Attacks were reported in 83 countries, with the highest incidences recorded in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Palestine and Ukraine.

Medellín, Colombia – An outbreak of gang violence in Haiti on Sunday left at least 70 dead and displaced some 6,000, according to human rights group Défenseurs Plus.

The NGO’s estimate greatly differs from the official police figure of 16 deaths in the rural Artibonite region.

In recent years, Haiti has grappled with powerful gangs, with related violence making it one one of the most dangerous countries in the world. 

The Artibonite region, the country’s key agricultural centre, is one of the worst affected areas. Sunday’s violence has been attributed locally to the Gran Grif gang, which was designated a terrorist organisation by the United States last year. 

Antonal Mortimé, director of the human rights NGO Défenseurs Plus, told Haiti’s Radiotélévision Caraïbes that some 50 homes were set on fire on Sunday. 

The United Nations (UN) has urged “Haitian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation,” and estimated that between 10 and 80 people had been killed. 

A recent UN report confirmed over 5,500 deaths between March 2025 and January 2026. 

During this period violence has also spread out from the epicentre of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as gangs continued to commit kidnappings, child trafficking, and sexual abuse on a large scale. 

“Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, Haiti has entered a phase of unprecedented violence, which we describe as structural. Violence is no longer only criminal; it is a tool for political and territorial control,” Mortimé told Latin American Reports. 

“Armed gangs, often instrumentalized by sectors of power and the economic elite, now control more than 80% of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince,” he added. 

Mortimé also criticized the state, which he believes has failed to strengthen the judicial system or national police in response to the ongoing crisis: “Impunity has become the norm: almost none of the major massacres documented by human rights organizations have resulted in a serious trial. This culture of impunity, nourished by widespread corruption in public institutions, prevents any attempt to restore republican order.”

To control this epidemic, Mortimé highlights the need for sweeping reforms of the government and judicial systems, as well as controls on the trafficking of illegal weapons. Despite Haiti’s total arms embargo, the UN has reported that weapons are being trafficked primarily from the U.S. due weak border control and corruption.

“The Haitian crisis is the product of a system where corruption and lack of accountability have supplanted public interest. The containment of this violence will necessarily involve the restoration of the rule of law and the protection of the fundamental rights of every citizen,” concluded Mortimé. 

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Buenos Aires, Argentina – The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments on Wednesday regarding the Trump administration’s attempts to end Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which defends Haitian migrants from deportations. 

The Supreme Court’s ruling, which is likely to be made in the coming months, could affect around 350,000 Haitians who are currently living in the United States. 

The Department of Homeland Security, then headed by Kristi Noem, justified February’s decision saying that Noem “determined that there are no extraordinary or temporary conditions in Haiti that prevent Haitian nationals […] from returning to safety,” and that “it is contrary to the national interests of the United States to permit Haitian nationals […] to remain.”

Immigrant rights advocates, however, paint a different picture.

Daniel Berlin, policy director for protection pathways at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), told Latin America Reports that “Haiti continues to face a compounding crisis marked by food insecurity, displacement, deadly disease outbreaks, and surging gang violence, making it dangerous for anyone forced to return.” 

“There are groups of people at particularly high risk, notably women and children as gangs increasingly use sexual violence to strike fear in communities and forced child recruitment has risen 200%,” he added.

Haitians were first granted TPS in 2010 following a devastating earthquake and have seen their protections extended multiple times since, including after the assassination of Jovenel Moise, the Caribbean country’s last elected president.

Since Moise’s assassination in 2021, Haiti has suffered from institutional collapse and rife gang violence.

More than 8,100 killings were documented nationwide between January and November last year, whilst up to half of the members making up these deadly armed groups are children, according to the UN.

As a result, the IRC reports that 73% of households feel unsafe where they sleep and 60% of households do not have their children in school due to fears of kidnapping, recruitment, and crossfire.

Berlin warns that “if TPS is ended, the administration could begin the legal process to remove people without other status immediately.” 

The reality on the ground has led the plaintiffs to argue that the Trump administration did not follow due process in evaluating the conditions in Haiti.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that government officials had distorted evidence in order to justify removing Haitians’ TPS. Internal emails show that data that did not support the administration’s argument was removed from research reports. 

Moreover, the lawyers also referenced President Trump’s frequent usage of inflammatory language against Haitian people to contend that the administration was racially motivated in its decision, which would violate the constitutional prohibitions of discriminatory government actions.

Trump has previously described Haitian immigrants as undesirable because they come from a “filthy, dirty, disgusting” country and claimed that they had been eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio. 

Lower court judges who dealt with the case found that Noem’s decisions were in fact predetermined and not informed by meaningful analysis, thus postponing the terminations of Haitians’ TPS. 

The government’s lawyers asked the conservative-dominated Supreme Court to intervene as a result, arguing that the courts have no right to review Noem’s decisionmaking.

In the same session, the Supreme Court also heard arguments regarding the TPS of 6,100 Syrians in the US.

Featured image description: Protest at the US Capitol against the removal of Haitian migrants’ Temporary Protected Status, March 6th 2026.

Featured image credit: @MarioNawfal via X.

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FOXBOROUGH, (US), June 14 — A scrappy finish by John McGinn allowed Scotland to mark their return to the World Cup after a 28-year absence with a nervy 1-0 win over outsiders Haiti on Saturday.

Aston Villa captain McGinn fired in with the aid of a deflection just before the half-hour mark at the Gillette Stadium just outside Boston, which was filled to its 64,000 capacity with a majority of Scottish fans.

They have travelled to the United States in large numbers to follow Scotland’s first World Cup campaign since 1998, and were able to celebrate a rare victory at the tournament as they go top of Group C.

It is Scotland’s first win at a World Cup since a 2-1 defeat of Sweden in Italy in 1990, and a first victory at any major tournament in 30 years, since Euro 96.

Steve Clarke’s team are bidding to make history by reaching the knockout stages, something Scotland have never done at the World Cup.

They had to hang on grimly at the end, but the victory puts them on course to get to the last 32, especially as the eight best third-placed sides will go through from the group stage.

Haiti are one of the lowest-ranked sides at the tournament, at 84th in the world, and Scotland knew the importance of beating the Caribbean nation with tougher tests to come.

They play Morocco at the same stadium in their next game on Friday before heading to Miami to take on Brazil. Morocco and Brazil drew 1-1 in Saturday’s other Group C encounter in New Jersey.

Haiti’s achievement in getting to the World Cup is one of the most inspiring stories of this tournament, given the turmoil in the country which prevented the team playing qualifiers at home.

McTominay hits post

Their line-up included midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and striker Wilson Isidor, both of whom featured regularly in the English Premier League this season.

But there is greater depth in the Scotland side, with the likes of McGinn, skipper Andy Robertson and Scott McTominay.

The Napoli attacking midfielder, scorer of an iconic overhead kick in the decisive win over Denmark which sealed qualification, was fit to start this game after shaking off a stomach bug.

McTominay almost gave a Scotland team playing in salmon pink the lead in the 17th minute, when he arrived at the edge of the area to crash a shot off the post from a Ben Gannon-Doak lay-off.

Haiti were beginning to grow as a threat when Scotland took the lead on 28 minutes.

Che Adams stretched the opposition defence before Gannon-Doak’s ball in fell to McGinn, and his shot found the net via the outstretched leg of Bellegarde.

They were unable to build on that, as Haiti forced them back and stepped up the pressure in the closing stages as they sought to avoid defeat in a World Cup game for the first time.

French-born Ruben Providence was a regular threat on the wing and imposing centre-forward Frantzdy Pierrot almost equalised in the 85th minute, but his towering header went just wide.

Haiti, who lost all three games in their only previous World Cup appearance in 1974, now face Brazil next in Philadelphia. — AFP