"With time, as his research led to police intervention, he caught the attention of the city's gangs. In November 2024, during a period of escalating violence in the Haitian capital, gang members entered the compound where Gensley lived. They burned the radio station, my home and many other things in the area. They even killed his dog."
"Like many fleeing Haiti in recent years, he had initially thought the US should be his goal, with better prospects. But a hardening of attitudes and restrictions under Joe Biden and an extreme crackdown on immigration and asylum by Donald Trump ultimately convinced him that Mexico would be a much safer bet."
"Four days after his arrival in Tapachula, Gensley checked in at the Mexican commission for refugee assistance (Comar), where the agency told him he could get a work permit and right of residence."
Jean Baptiste Gensley, a 37-year-old Haitian radio journalist and social worker, fled Haiti after gang members attacked his compound, burned his radio station, and killed his dog in November 2024. His research on gang violence had attracted unwanted attention from criminal organizations. After escaping to the Dominican Republic where he left his family, Gensley traveled through Ecuador and El Salvador before reaching Mexico. Despite initially targeting the United States, he decided Mexico was more feasible due to increasingly restrictive immigration policies under both Biden and Trump administrations. Upon arriving in Tapachula, Mexico, he registered with Comar, the Mexican refugee assistance commission, which offered him a work permit and residency rights.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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