The White House continues conversations about incoming migrants from Haiti as the country’s dire political situation escalates.
Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott sent a letter to President Biden demanding that he share his plan to handle a possible influx of Haitians in the Sunshine State. The Senator’s position: Do not open the gates to what they say will be countless, not properly investigated foreign nationals.
Biden’s administration is focused on evacuating Americans stranded in the conflict zone. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the first evacuation flight out of the country’s second-largest city – Cap-Haïtien – was successful, with more than 30 U.S. citizens airlifted to the States.
Sullivan added that over 1000 stranded Americans have reached out to authorities to leave Haiti. The Florida Division of Emergency Management is working to coordinate evacuations.
“We’ve been working all day long to remove a number of individuals on two separate flights out of Haiti to the Sanford-Orlando International Airport,” ,” said Kevin Guthrie, Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) director. “Unfortunately, the situation on the ground is so volatile that we have not been able to successfully complete that mission. We are not going to stop working until we get these people home.”
The United States, through USAID, intends to provide an additional $25 million in humanitarian assistance to Haiti.