The escalating unrest in Haiti has raised concerns about a potential increase in migration to Florida. As conditions in Haiti worsen due to armed gang violence and civil unrest, many individuals may seek refuge in the neighboring Sunshine State.
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz expressed deep concern about the possibility of a large number of Haitian migrants seeking refuge in Florida.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Gaetz asked what the Biden administration was doing to prepare for a “wave” of migrants fleeing Haiti, prompting DoD official Rebecca Zimmerman to say that plans were being made for a potential increase in refugees, including using the US Navy.
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“Congressman, we’re doing a number of things to ensure that we’re keeping track of the situation, and we’re prepared at the moment. We have not yet seen large numbers of what we would characterize as maritime mass migration. But we are alert to that migration. We are we are alert to that possibility. I think you’re right, that the driving conditions in Haiti could very well press more people. 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,” responded Zimmerman.
“Because I’ve talked to the Coast Guard, and what they say would really support them would be more naval vessels would be DoD support. And because I think you correctly said that there is an anticipated mass migration here, there are specific legal authorities that we can access that I would implore you to access,” said Gaetz.
Gaetz also questioned Army General Laura Richardson, commander of US Southern Command, about whether the government should “activate the authorities, anticipating a mass migration.”
“Specifically, George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13276, and in that executive order, there is the ability for any president to designate an anticipated mass migration and that get gray haul naval vessels into the Straits of Florida to deter that migration and then reach Patriot those people before they get to Florida. So General Richardson, is it your best military advice, based on what we just heard from Zimmerman, that we activate the authorities anticipating a mass migration,” asked Gaetz.
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Richardson replied, “So I think that we need to be postured appropriately, for that is exactly what you’re talking about. And I have put in a request for increased capability to do exactly that. And we are ready for a mass migration if we need to deal with a mass migration. We did a full walkthrough of our contingency plan on Gitmo last summer, with all of the interagency and all of my components.”
On March 11, the U.S. military conducted an operation to augment the security of the U.S. Embassy in Haiti.
“At the request of the Department of State, the U.S. military conducted an operation to augment the security of the U.S. Embassy at Port-au-Prince, allow our Embassy mission operations to continue, and enable non-essential personnel to depart,” according to a release.
“This airlift of personnel into and out of the Embassy is consistent with our standard practice for Embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft. Our Embassy remains focused on advancing U.S. government efforts to support the Haitian people, including mobilizing support for the Haitian National Police, expediting the deployment of the United Nations-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and accelerating a peaceful transition of power via free and fair elections” the release said.
Also on Tuesday, the United States Coast Guard repatriated Haitian migrants saying on x, “The crew of @USCG Cutter Venturous repatriated 65 migrants to Haiti following a migrant venture near Great Inagua, Bahamas. USCG and @HSTF_Southeast partners are committed to preserving life at sea regardless of nationality.”
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