Sadrac Sylvestre, 26, is recovering from a crash that killed his partner and their eldest son in the Dominican Republic, and he risks being deported to Haiti because he has no legal status there, AyiboPost reported on October 22.

The crash happened on September 23, less than 48 hours after his partner, Christina, and their two children arrived to join him after fleeing gang violence in Kenscoff. Relatives said he was carrying them on a motorcycle between Bávaro and Higüey when a truck hit them. He spent time in a coma, and the youngest child, aged one, needed several operations.

Pastor Ezequiel Omelis Colón of the Christian Reformed Church in Higüey has taken in the little boy, Shadley. A human rights advocate says she accompanies Sylvestre at the hospital to prevent his arrest by immigration agents. Under an April 2025 protocol in 33 public hospitals, undocumented foreigners receive only emergency care and can be reported to immigration once their condition is stable.

Relatives say the family has received no help from Haitian authorities, and Haiti's embassy in Santo Domingo did not respond to AyiboPost. According to the support group GARR, 140,018 people were deported from the Dominican Republic to Haiti in the first half of 2026.

Kenscoff was hit hard by violence this summer. The RNDDH human rights network says two massacres by members of the Viv Ansanm coalition in July and August killed at least 164 people.