U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Miramar, is co-sponsoring a bill to stem the flow of illegal guns and other weapons to the Caribbean, especially Haiti.
The proposed law would require the Department of Defense to expand the mission of the Joint Interagency Task Force South to include efforts to stop illicit arms trafficking.
The move comes amid growing concern about the role of firearms from the U.S. fueling violence and instability in Caribbean nations — particularly in Haiti, where gang-related violence has reached crisis levels.
“Weapons trafficking by way of the United States is a major contributor to crime in the Caribbean and Haiti’s growing gang crisis, driving the ongoing instability that plagues the country,” said Cherfilus-McCormick in a statement Thursday. “All potential options must be on the table to effectively curtail the flow of arms. Our nation's national security depends on it.”
Nearly 75% of firearms recovered and traced in the Caribbean could be linked to the United States, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued last year. Many of those weapons were initially sold through legal U.S. retail channels before being trafficked abroad.
Discontent and anger is spreading as gangs that already control 85% of Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince pillage once-peaceful communities.
Recent gang violence has forced more than 60,000 people to flee their homes in one month alone, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
