The president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council said that the Trump administration’s decisions to freeze aid programs, deport migrants and block refugees will be “catastrophic.”

Leslie Voltaire, the head of Haiti’s interim presidential council, declared that the Trump administration’s actions to halt aid, deport migrants, and bar refugees would be “catastrophic” for Haiti. The remark was made by Voltaire in an interview with The Associated Press in Rome during a Vatican meeting with Pope Francis.

Haiti has lacked elected representatives since January 2023 and has not held elections since 2016. The country's capital is almost entirely controlled by armed gangs, and leaders

Haiti's transitional council president Leslie Voltaire said in an interview on Wednesday that a date for the Caribbean nation's long-awaited general elections has been fixed for around Nov. 15 of this year.