More than six months after the conclusion of their security deployment at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a senior U.S. Marine commander has publicly confirmed that the unit tasked with protecting the diplomatic facility was involved in multiple armed clashes between August and December 2025. The revelation came during a recent press briefing held after the unit’s return to its home base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Colonel Tom Trimble, commanding officer of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which held the embassy security mission during that four-month window, detailed that in each instance of hostile contact, Marines only discharged their weapons in acts of self-defense. “There was a consistent pattern of hostile engagements during our time in Haiti, and we responded with proportional return fire when necessary,” Trimble told reporters, declining to share the exact number of shooting incidents that took place over the deployment.
In a reassuring update for U.S. military command, Trimble confirmed that all Marines under his leadership emerged from the clashes completely unharmed, with no injuries or fatalities recorded among the security contingent. He attributed the unit’s safe outcome to three key factors: pre-deployment reinforcement of defensive positions at the embassy, rigorous ongoing training for high-risk security environments, and strict adherence to established rules of engagement (ROE). “Our personnel went into this mission with a complete, clear understanding of what the ROE required of them,” Trimble explained. “We followed those rules perfectly, and executed every action exactly as the U.S. Department of State directed in order to secure the embassy and protect all personnel inside.”
When pressed by journalists to share details on potential casualties among Haitian individuals involved in or affected by the firefights, Trimble said he was unable to release that information, confirming only that the details remain unclear. The commander also confirmed that the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit has since departed Haiti to take on other assigned missions around the world, and its embassy security role has been turned over to a company from the Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST), a specialized U.S. Marine unit focused on rapid response security for diplomatic assets globally.
The confirmation of multiple armed engagements comes as Haiti has grappled with years of escalating gang violence and political instability that has left much of the country outside government control, creating heightened security risks for foreign diplomatic missions operating in the capital. The U.S. has maintained a diplomatic presence in Haiti throughout the crisis, with rotating security detachments deployed to protect embassy facilities and personnel.