Florida braces for surge in Haitian migrants amid humanitarian crisis

The crisis in Haiti could lead to a migration surge to Florida, forcing officials to respond as the state has taken an increasingly hardline stance on the issue and as Congress faces gridlock over border policy.

Florida lawmakers are already preparing for an influx of Haitian migrants and warning that American security could be jeopardized if the U.S. doesn’t do more to help Haiti, though the country has rarely been a top foreign policy priority.

Violent gangs have largely overtaken the island nation and people throughout Haiti face dwindling food supplies and homelessness. The chaos has led to the resignation of Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who will formally step down as soon as an interim leader is named.

Over the years, the Caribbean country’s turmoil has forced Haitians to take the dangerous, 700-mile path by sea to flee to Florida’s shores, often landing in the Keys. Today, more than 276,000 people who live in Florida were born in Haiti, including state Rep. Dotie Joseph, a Democrat who represents North Miami. Amid the latest surge in violence, her cousins were displaced out of Port-au-Prince and she has friends whose loved ones were kidnapped and released.

“The instability in Haiti impacts every Haitian throughout the diaspora. It’s something that weighs heavily on all of our hearts and creates a feeling of helplessness because we all want to help and the path to a solution is not crystal clear,” Joseph said, adding that Haitians were reluctant to rely on international intervention after the brutal U.S. occupation in 1915 and abuses by the United Nations.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat who is Haitian-American, warned in a press conference Monday that if the U.S. failed to act then it would create a security risk here. The U.S. has pledged to provide $333 million in aid, but during a House Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, Rebecca Zimmerman, a top Defense official, acknowledged under questioning from U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) that federal officials are anticipating the possibility of maritime migration.

On Wednesday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis directed Florida's Division of Emergency Management, the Florida State Guard and state law enforcement to send 250 more officers and soldiers to Florida's southern coast "to protect our state." He also had them send more than a dozen air and sea craft vessels, saying that Florida continued to "supplement the under-resourced U.S. Coast Guard's interdiction efforts."

"We cannot have illegal aliens coming to Florida," he wrote in a post on X.

The governor's office blamed the Biden administration as part of its announcement that it was sending reinforcements.

"Illegal immigrants feel empowered to enter the sovereign territory of the United States because of the federal government's refusal to diligently enforce our immigration laws and protect the integrity of the border," an announcement from DeSantis' office said. "When a state faces the possibility of invasion, it has the right and duty to defend its territory and people."

A large-scale crisis could push DeSantis to work with President Joe Biden, whom he frequently criticizes on this issue. Just over a year ago, as unrest continued after the Miami-linked 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, DeSantis declared a state of emergency and activated the state National Guard after 130 Haitians and 500 Cubans arrived in South Florida. Tens of thousands of Haitians at the time also tried to cross into the U.S. at the Texas border.

DeSantis has made it clear through his policies that Florida won’t welcome mass migration. He successfully sued the Biden administration over border policies, deployed National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border and relocated migrants from Texas to blue states. He also signed one of the harshest measures into law, making it harder for people to work in Florida if they live here illegally.

Joseph accused both Florida and national Republicans of “villainizing” migrants and using them as a scapegoat. A “humane and legally accurate result,” she said, would be to process people’s claims rather than just trying to send them back.

“Nobody wants to leave where they are to come to some place that may not be welcoming to them,” Joseph said. “They leave because something very wrong is going on at home. And if we’re honest, a lot of the instability that’s going on in Haiti is a direct result of intervention and failed policies by various countries, including the United States.”

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