No one should walk out of that airport alone.
Approximately every week, at least one deportation flight lands at Cap-Haïtien International Airport. It carries Haitians of every age: grandmothers, teenagers, toddlers, babies still in arms. Most arrive with no money, no phone, no change of clothes, and often no one waiting. We are there when the doors open, with a hug, a hot plate of food, and a way to get somewhere safe.
A bridge does not decide who crosses it. It only makes sure the crossing is possible.
We meet
Every flight
We speak
Life
We give
Food, phone, fare
We stay
Until they’re safe
Why we exist
Deportation doesn’t end at the gate. For most people, that’s where the hardest part starts.
A person stepping off a removal flight has usually spent months in detention. They land in a country many of them left as children, or fled in fear. Their belongings were shipped somewhere else, or lost. Their phone was taken. They have no local currency for a bus, no number to call, and no idea where they will sleep.
Some are met by family. Many are not. The ones who aren’t are the reason we started this. The first hours after arrival are when a person is most likely to be robbed, exploited, recruited, or simply left standing outside a terminal with nowhere to go.
And they are not all adults. Infants and toddlers come off these flights too, carried by a deported parent, or born abroad and removed alongside them. A mother steps into the terminal holding a child who has never been to Haiti, with no diapers, no formula, no stroller, no car seat, and no bottle. A hungry baby cannot wait while a parent figures out the next step. That is a different kind of emergency, and it needs a different kind of preparation.
We can’t undo a deportation. We can make sure the first face someone sees is a kind one.
What we do
The first hour
This is our whole model. It is small, specific, and it happens the same way every time.
0:00
Someone is waiting
A volunteer from The Re-Entry Bridge stands at arrivals holding a sign in Kreyòl. Not a clipboard, not an intake form. We greet each person by name if we have it, and we ask if we can give them a hug.
0:10
A hot plate and cold water
Rice and beans, meat, plantain. Real Haitian food, not a granola bar. Water and juice. Many people tell us they went days without a real meal inside the detention center. This is the first thing we hand over, before any paperwork.
0:15
If there’s a baby, the baby comes first
Formula, clean bottles, diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes in the right size. A parent gets to sit down and feed their child before we ask them a single question.
0:25
A phone that works
A basic phone, an activated SIM card, and enough credit to make calls. For most people this is the first call to their mother, their spouse, their child, or their lawyer in months.
0:40
Clean clothes and a shower
A private room to wash, a towel, and clothes that fit and that they chose. People arrive in what they were detained in. Walking into your own country in detention clothes is its own kind of humiliation.
1:00
A way to go somewhere
Bus fare to family in another city, or a paid room for the night when there is nowhere to go. No one leaves our sight without knowing where they will be sleeping.
Day 3
We call to check
We call every person we meet. If they didn’t make it where they were going, we help again.
The youngest passengers
Some of the people we meet are too young to walk.
People picture a deportation flight as rows of adults. Often it isn’t. Infants and toddlers are removed alongside their parents, and some of them are arriving in Haiti for the first time in their lives.
A parent in that terminal has just been deported and still has to keep a small child fed and calm. At home there would be a diaper bag. A bottle the baby knows. Someone else to hold the baby for ten minutes. None of that came off the plane.
So we keep infant and toddler kits packed and waiting for every flight, sized from newborn up. We would rather carry them back unopened than be caught without one.
What’s in an arrival kit for a child
- Infant formula and clean bottles 0–12 mo
- Diapers and wipes all sizes
- A change of clothes that fits all sizes
- Baby blanket and burp cloths
- Toddler food, cup, and snacks
- Diaper rash cream and basic first aid
- One soft toy to keep
- A place for a parent to sit and feed
Your gift
Here is exactly what your money buys.
No overhead-first budgeting, no vague “programs.” Every amount below maps to a physical thing we hand to a person on arrival day.
$15
A meal and water
One hot Haitian meal, bottled water, and juice for a person walking off the flight.
$45
A phone and a SIM
A working phone with an activated line and credit. The first call home in months.
$80
Clothes, a shower, bus fare
Clean clothes, a private wash, and transport to family anywhere in the country.
$250
One full welcome
Everything above, plus two nights of safe lodging for someone with nowhere to go.
$60
Or send an infant and toddler kit
Formula, bottles, diapers, wipes, clothing in the right size, and one soft toy the child gets to keep. We pack these for every flight whether or not a child is on it.
[Placeholder amounts. Replace with your real verified unit costs before launch. Donors will hold you to these numbers, so only publish figures you can defend line by line.]
$25 a month meets one person at every flight, all year. Monthly gifts are what let us commit to being at arrivals on a fixed schedule.
About us
Years of fighting deportations, and I never asked what happened after.
My name is Taisha Saintil. I was born in Haiti, raised in South Florida, and I have spent years trying to keep Haitians from being deported.
Some of that work succeeded.
But there were always the others. The ones I did not reach. I would hear that a flight had gone, and I would move on to the next policy issue, and I never once asked what happened to the people who were on it.
That is what this is. Not something I witnessed. A question I finally could not stop asking.
The Re-Entry Bridge is built on the belief that dignity is not a service you qualify for, but rather what you are owed the second you land just by virtue of being a human being. We do not screen people for worthiness. We do not ask why they were deported. We simply ask if they are hungry.
I am Haitian-American. I am a mother. I know what I would want if it were my family walking through those doors. Somebody should be standing there. So we are going to be standing there.
T
Taisha Saintil
Founder
Taisha has advised members of Congress and convened high-level meetings with leadership at the Department of Homeland Security. She led the national campaign that secured the extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, earning her an invitation to the White House. She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Florida, where she triple-majored in political science, criminology, and African American studies, and a cum laude graduate of Florida International University College of Law.
Add a real photograph here before launch. Faces raise giving more than any other single element on a nonprofit page.
Accountability
We haven’t met our first flight yet. Here is what we will publish once we do.
The Re-Entry Bridge is new, and we are not going to dress that up. We have no results to show you because the work has not started. What we can give you today is the exact list of what we will report, how often, and where you will be able to find it.
People met at arrivals
Monthly
Individuals, not “people served.” Published every month from our first flight onward, including the months when the number is low.
Share of every dollar spent on arrival kits
Quarterly
Food, phones, clothing, lodging, and transport, reported as a percentage of total spending and backed by our books.
People we reached on the day-3 follow-up
Quarterly
The honest measure of whether any of this works. We will report it when it is good and when it is not.
Financial documents
As filed
Annual report, IRS Form 990, and board roster, posted as soon as each one exists.
[State your legal status plainly here: 501(c)(3) granted or pending, EIN, and fiscal sponsor if you have one. Donors check, and “pending” costs you far less than vagueness does.]
If you give before there is anything to measure, you are funding the first flight rather than the tenth. We will tell you how it went.
Get involved
Other ways to be there
Volunteer at arrivals
We need Kreyòl speakers in and around Cap-Haïtien. You do not need training or a background in any of this. You just need to be willing to stand at arrivals and be there for someone in the first hour of their re-entry.
Give supplies, not cash
Phones, SIM cards, unworn clothing, formula, diapers, and toiletries. We publish a live needs list.
Partner with us
Churches, diaspora associations, immigration law firms, and guesthouses near Cap-Haïtien International Airport. Especially guesthouses.
Questions
Before you give
Is my donation tax-deductible?
[Answer plainly based on your actual status. If your 501(c)(3) is pending or you’re using a fiscal sponsor, say exactly that and name the sponsor.]
How do you get access to people at the airport?
[Describe your real arrangement: coordination with airport authorities, the migrant reception office, or partner organizations. Donors and journalists will ask this first, and a specific answer is a major credibility signal.]
Children are really on these flights?
Yes. Infants and toddlers are removed alongside deported parents, and some arrive in Haiti for the first time in their lives. We keep infant and toddler kits packed for every flight.
Do you help everyone, or do people have to qualify?
Everyone on the flight who wants help gets help. We don’t ask about criminal history, immigration history, or why someone was removed. Need is the only criterion.
Isn’t this just charity? What about the underlying problem?
Both things are true. Policy work matters, and we support it. But policy moves slowly and the flights land on schedule. Someone has to be standing there Thursday morning.
How is my money actually spent?
[Link to your budget breakdown. Consider publishing a simple one-page annual budget even in year one. Very few small nonprofits do, and it stands out enormously.]
Can I give from outside the United States?
[Note accepted currencies and payment methods, including whatever the Haitian diaspora actually uses. This audience is a large share of your likely donors.]
There is a flight landing in Haiti.
We do not know yet who will be on it. We know what they will need when they walk through those doors: food, a phone that works, clean clothes, and a way to get somewhere safe. Help us have it ready.