Governor Ron DeSantis (R) declared that Florida will send more law enforcement agents to the state’s southern areas in case of a potential influx of Haitian migrants, as the Caribbean nation battles with political unrest and street violence.
According to DeSantis, in addition to more than a dozen ships and aircraft, more than 200 more state law enforcement officials and roughly 50 members of the National Guard will be sent to South Florida and the Keys.
“For quite some time, the State of Florida has been dedicating significant resources to combat illegal vessels coming to Florida from countries such as Haiti,” DeSantis stated in a statement. “No state has done more to supplement the (under-resourced) U.S. Coast Guard’s interdiction efforts; we cannot have illegal aliens coming to Florida.”
The reaction is given while Port-au-Prince’s streets continue to be rife with violence. Approximately 3,500 of the city’s captives were freed following coordinated breakouts, and the United Nations estimates that gangs control up to 80% of the capital.
According to CNN on Wednesday, the Biden administration has suggested that Haitians who have been detained at sea on their perilous 700-mile trek to Florida might be processed in Guantanamo Bay. Following the terrible disasters in 2010, Haitians who were leaving their country used the same processing center.
Ariel Henry, the prime minister, announced his resignation on Tuesday, supporting a transitional government proposal sponsored by the United States but criticized by Haitian MPs.
Additionally, last week, the United States committed $300 million in support for a global security force headed by Kenya, which friends believe would help put an end to gang violence. All Americans have been asked to leave Haiti by the U.S. government, which also evacuated the embassy last week and sent a squad of Marines to guard it.
A resolution passed by the UN Security Council last year established the security plan, but it hasn’t been implemented yet because of Henry’s resignation and the continuous political unrest.
