Haitian leaders in Florida have slammed the state's plans to prioritize "militarization over humanitarian aid" as the instability in Haiti continues to worsen.
Amid political chaos and a growing humanitarian crisis in Haiti, state officials have been prepping for what they claim to be a coming surge of Haitian migrants arriving to the U.S. by boat — something which hasn’t yet materialized.
Gov. Ron DeSantis last week deployed more than 250 law enforcement officials to the Florida Keys with the goal of intercepting boats and repatriating Haitians back to Haiti.
And for Haitians who reach U.S soil, DeSantis floated the idea of using a taxpayer-funded transport program to send Haitian migrants to Massachusetts, as he did with with a group of Venezuelan migrants in 2022 to protest President Biden's border policies.
"We do have our transport program also that's going to be operational, so Haitians land in the Florida Keys, their next stop very well may be Martha's Vineyard,” said DeSantis, in an interview with podcaster Dana Loesch.
A rep for the US Coast Guard told WLRN they "have not seen an uptick in illegal maritime migration," and that the "only repatriation of Haitian migrants back to Haiti occurred on the 12th of March."
Haitian leaders, immigrant advocates and lawmakers across Florida are urging leaders to address the root causes of migration, help with the delivery of aid and treat migrants with humanity.
Paul Christian Namphy, lead organizer for Family Action Network Movement, or FANM — one of the leading nonprofits providing legal and social services to the Haitian community in Miami — told WLRN he’s “outraged” by the state’s response.
He said DeSantis needs to address the escalating crisis in Haiti with compassion and historical context.
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“The people coming are human beings, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, seeking shelter from gang perpetrated murder, kidnapping and rape in Haiti,” Namphy said. “So we need to humanize the response for people who have already suffered immeasurable trauma, who are refugees fleeing for their lives.”
State Rep. Dotie Joseph, D-North Miami, and the Florida Immigrant Coalition echoed the same sentiment in a joint statement, criticizing the state for prioritizing “militarization over humanitarian aid” and not addressing “the underlying factors driving migration from Haiti.”
Haitian leaders are calling for the state to mobilize resources for community organizations in South Florida who could assist the Haitian community and support efforts to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian nationals already in the US.
They said the worsening political and economic conditions in Haiti is directly impacting citizens in Florida, who are in contact with relatives trying to flee the country. The state is home to the nation's largest population of Haitian-Americans.
Joseph also called attention to a UN report that found that guns are trafficked from Florida to Haiti, fueling some of the gun violence there.
"Rather than harass refugees who are literally fleeing for their lives, the state government can focus its law enforcement resources on making sure shipments from Florida are properly screened for illegal arms and munitions,” Joseph said.
For months, the densely populated capital of Port-au-Prince and some parts of the countryside have been under near complete siege by politically affiliated, well-funded gangs who loot shipping containers and orchestrate attacks on prisons and airports.
The criminal gangs, who’ve been active on the political scene for many years, now control 80% of the capital. They have overwhelmed the country’s police force, displacing thousands of people.
Since Feb. 29, gunmen have burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed and stormed the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
Scores of people have been killed, and more than 33,000 people have fled the capital of Port-au-Prince as a result of the attacks.
Some of the gangs, who consists of ex-policemen and former paramilitary members, are bidding for political power after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021. The political power vacuum widened, which led to an increase in violence.
As result, on March 12, the gangs forced acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign. And now internationally-backed groups are tasked with a complicated effort to form a transitional government, beef up security in the country through what’s known as a multinational security support mission, and eventually host elections for the first time since 2016.
Volker Türk, United Nations Human Rights chief, says the situation on the ground is "beyond untenable." Nearly 1,200 people have been killed in Haiti since the start of the year, according to UN numbers.
Aid becomes a logistical nightmare
Nonprofit leaders shared with WLRN the myriad of problems they are facing during one of the greatest turning points in Haitian history.
Getting aid and other products to Haiti has been a logistical nightmare and "too insecure,” says Mario Nicoleau, Executive Director of the hunger relief non-profit Broward County-based Food For The Poor.
Nicoleau, who is Haitian, said this is the worst disruption in the organization's 40-year history of sending food and supplies to Haiti. The capital's airports have been shut down, which has eliminated airdrops, and ports that contain massive containers worth of food and supplies to distribute en masse are now over-run by gangs.
“The bullets are flying and the ports have been pillaged at least twice so far, at least the ports in Port-au-Prince,” Nicoleau said. “It’ll take an eternity and who knows when it will be cleared.”
Nicoleau said most nonprofits in Miami have no choice but to simply wait for legitimate governance in Haiti as leaders are facing the new challenge of reducing insecurity spreading to middle to more affluent areas of the country.
“At this point, I have about 40% of our staff that have run out of their own homes and neighborhoods,” Nicoleau said. “So it's a serious situation where people have no place to stay.”
