Haitian migrants in US place hopes on hard work, helping hands

Richemene Bertrand, center, holds her daughter Jumaily Secius while learning computer skills with her husband, Jean Francois Secius, Dec. 22, 2023, in Boston. [AP Photo]

When Ernseau Admettre decided to leave Haiti and head north with his young family in tow, very little was guaranteed.

But the situation in his homeland, beset by poverty and gang violence, had grown so dire that a risky passage to and then across the United States' Southern border offered a kind of hope he said he could never find by staying put.