Nearly three years after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, Haiti is in total free-fall. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had been in Kenya at the end of February to sign an agreement for Kenyan policemen to deploy to his country, is now stuck abroad in Puerto Rico as gangs attacked the country’s airport and freed over 4,000 prisoners. He has since said he would resign once a transitional council is established, leaving the country’s notorious gang leader—Barbecue—as Haiti’s most powerful man right now. The violence and anarchy has Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz understandably concerned about what that might mean for U.S. immigration as a desperate populace looks to flee the country in crisis.
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Rebecca Zimmerman acknowledged a mass migration event is anticipated. And according to General Laura Richardson, Commander of United States Southern Command, the Biden administration may use the U.S. Navy to stop it.
“As a Florida man, I'm deeply concerned about this wave of people that we're about to have that we are having coming from Haiti,” Gaetz said. “What are we doing to prepare for that wave, and to ensure that these people are not paroled into the United States, as the administration has done with people on the southern border, but instead, are repatriated back at the dock at Port au Prince?”
Zimmerman said that while they haven’t yet seen what would be characterized as a “maritime mass migration” event, “we are alert to that possibility.”
“I think you're right, that the driving conditions in Haiti could very well press more people,” she added. “So we've recently approved some additional assistance that we can provide to the Coast Guard, I think that that has now fully been approved, we'll be providing notifications, if we haven't already provided shipboard assist.”
Gaetz pointed to certain legal authorities that are available from an executive order former President George W. Bush signed in this type of situation.
“In that executive order, there is the ability for any president to designate an anticipated mass migration, and then get gray haul naval vessels into the Straits of Florida to deter that migration and then to repatriate those people before they get to Florida. So Gen. Richardson, is it your best military advice based on what we just heard from Zimmerman, that we activate the authorities anticipating a mass migration?”
"I think that we need to be postured appropriately for that exactly what you're talking about," Zimmerman responded. "And I have put in a request for increased capability to do exactly that. And we are ready...if we need to deal with a mass migration."
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) March 12, 2024