A welcome center for Haitians deported from the United States opened in Cap-Haïtien on Wednesday, October 28, a day before a deportation flight arrived, GBH News reported. Until now the city had no facility for people sent back.

Centre d'Accueil-Bedrock was set up by the Immigrant Family Services Institute, based in Mattapan, Massachusetts, with partners in Haiti. It offers a meal, a bed and hygiene supplies for stays of a couple of days, so people can reach relatives or friends, along with caseworkers and access to a psychologist. It can take 56 people a night, and the group is buying bunk beds to add space.

Before it opened, workers handed out emergency packages to more than 100 deportees at a police station. Deportation flights to Haiti rose from one a month to one a week after August 20, according to Human Rights Watch's ICE Flight Monitor. The government pays a one-night hotel stay for some returnees; psychologist Guerda Nicolas of the University of Miami said many must leave by 11 a.m. the next day.

“We cannot turn our backs on those people who have suffered so much,” said Dr. Geralde Gabeau of the institute. The center, backed by Ayiti Home Link, United For Women Empowerment, the Fondation Alfred Beliard and AmCham's Women Network, has cost at least $100,000 and will add staff.

Temporary Protected Status for Haiti expired on July 27 after the Supreme Court allowed the administration to end protections for at least 330,000 Haitians, including at least 19,000 people in Massachusetts.