PORT-AU-PRINCE: According to videos shared on social media on Friday, Haitians desperate for passports to apply for a U.S. migration program crammed local migration centres, crushing through small doorways and scaling the outside of stairways.

People are seen climbing on stair railings and being crushed as they fight their way through crowds clutching document envelopes in videos from Haiti's Value migration office and an improvised centre at a sports facility in the capital Port-au-Prince.

In early January, the United States announced that it would allow up to 30,000 people from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter by air each month under a parole program, allowing migrants entry on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian or public benefit reasons.

The move comes as the country tightens Trump-era restrictions to quickly deport migrants caught crossing the US-Mexico border on foot.

According to the United Nations Migration Agency, hundreds of Haitian migrants have been stopped in boats trying to emigrate amid a surge in violence driven by armed gangs, which has left hundreds dead and over 100,000 internally displaced.

Border security has been beefed up in neighboring Dominican Republic and Bahamas.