COMMENTARY Florida U.S. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick's resignation leaves Haitian-Americans with no presence in Congress — and a bigger need to get serious about filling the void.
This might sound like an insensitive point, but it’s an important one:
In terms of Haitian and Haitian-American interests, South Florida U.S. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick picked a relatively harmless moment to leave Congress when she resigned her seat under a cloud of corruption this week.
Facing a House Ethics Committee vote on a raft of misconduct allegations against her — not to mention a federal indictment — Cherfilus-McCormick opted to quit.
That left Capitol Hill with no Haitian-American lawmakers. Cherfilus-McCormick was, in fact, the first Haitian-American Democrat elected to Congress when she won Florida’s 20th District, representing Palm Beach and Broward Counties, in 2022.
But thankfully, it doesn’t appear that her absence, at least for now, will have too negative an effect on efforts to restore security and stability in Haiti, as well as immigration protections for Haitians in the U.S.
READ MORE: If we demonize Haitians in Ohio, why do we still allow Ohioans in Florida?
When it comes to Haiti, legislation that Cherfilus-McCormick co-sponsored to crack down on political and business elites who sponsor the gangs that all but rule the country today was already signed into law last December as part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration — stoked about its Donroe Doctrine campaign to save (or acquire) the western hemisphere — finally seems to be taking Haiti’s rescue seriously. The larger and more effective international Gang Suppression Force it pushed for is taking shape there, and this week Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé in Washington D.C. and pledged re-authorization of U.S. trade preferences for Haiti.
Despite her disgraced exit, Cherfilus-McCormick’s presence in Congress was a reminder that in government, there is no substitute for, well, presence.
When it comes to Haitians in the U.S., a community that a year-and-a-half ago was falsely and monstrously accused by President Donald Trump of eating people’s pets in Ohio is finally scoring some wins.
Last week, the House passed a measure to extend the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitian migrants that Trump’s trying to cancel — and 10 Republicans, realizing most voters have had enough of the President’s gratuitous immigration cruelty in advance of November’s midterm elections, signed on.
Cavalier campaign
Even if the bill doesn’t pass the Senate, or if it does and Trump vetoes it, the Supreme Court looks set to rule against the administration’s legally cavalier campaign to kibosh Haitian TPS and deport more than 350,000 people back to a country that rivals Gaza for violent suffering.
The point is, Washington’s stars seem unusually aligned at this time in Haiti’s and Haitians’ favor.
But the other point is: that won’t likely last long — because, sadly, it rarely does for Haiti and Haitians.
So it’s urgent that other Haitian-Americans get elected to Congress to replace Cherfilus-McCormick — and the community’s leadership better get more serious about that reality.
Despite her disgraced exit, Cherfilus-McCormick’s presence in Congress was a reminder that in politics and government, there is no substitute for, well, presence.
Take the sinister Ohio pets slander. After Trump disgorged it in a presidential debate in September 2024, MAGA House members like Clay Higgins of Louisiana of course wanted to parrot it.
Higgins went on X and called Haitians “thugs” who “better get … their asses out of our country before January 20th” of 2025, the day of Trump’s second inauguration.
Cherfilus-McCormick privately confronted Higgins on the House floor about it. Shortly after, he publicly apologized for his X post — telling reporters that Cherfilus-McCormick’s words had “very graciously … touched me as a gentleman.”
As for Haiti itself, Cherfilus-McCormick’s tenure in Congress, albeit brief, did in fact help engage the U.S. with the country’s tragedy precisely because she is Haitian-American.
Just ask any Cuban-American what a difference that can make.
Cherfilus-McCormick’s staff told the Miami Herald this week that she plans to run again in November for the 20th District seat. But, because she’s facing trial next year, let’s just say her prospects of winning don’t look as bright as the 3.14-carat yellow diamond ring she’s accused of buying with embezzled federal funds. (She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.)
That means Haitian Nation has to develop more political talent than Cherfilus-McCormick and the only other Haitian-American to serve in Congress, Republican Mia Love of Utah, who was in the House from 2015 to 2019.
Because someday again soon, it won’t be so harmless not to have a presence there.
