House Republicans from Florida, expecting a wave of refugees from crisis-ridden Haiti to descend on the state, are urging President Joe Biden to allow the U.S. Navy to reinforce the state's efforts to conduct maritime interdictions and repatriation of Haitians.
Reps. Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Gus Bilirakis, and Daniel Webster wrote a letter to Biden on Monday urging him to exercise his authority under 46 U.S. Code § 70051 and declare an "anticipated mass migration of aliens en route to, or arriving off the coast of, the United States." They wrote the law is bolstered by Executive Order 13276 signed by President George W. Bush in November 2002.
The code allows the Defense Department to offer naval assistance to the U.S. Coast Guard to interdict and repatriate migrants before they reach U.S. soil.
Haiti has been beset with a political and humanitarian crisis since gangs, led by Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier and his group G9, have seized the national airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince and taken control of the city, forcing Prime Minister and Interim President Ariel Henry to resign. Henry had been in charge since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
Haiti is about 700 miles from Florida, which has the largest Haitian population in the U.S., according to World Population Review.
On Friday, Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., told Newsmax any Haitian refugees encountered by U.S. naval forces should not be repatriated but instead sent to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, which housed thousands of Haitian and Cuban refugees in the 1990s.
Bush's executive order also names Guantanamo Bay as a possible location for refugees, and CNN reported Wednesday the Biden administration is considering using the base to process Haitians if there is a mass exodus.
In the letter to Biden, the lawmakers said that Gen. Laura Richardson, head of U.S. Southern Command, told the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday that the U.S. needs to be "postured appropriately" to address the threat of mass migration from Haiti.
Richardson said she has requested "increased capability to do exactly that. And we are ready for a mass migration if we need to deal with a mass migration."
On that same day, the lawmakers wrote, GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he will deploy additional law enforcement resources to the southern regions of the state in anticipation of a possible wave of Haitian migrants.
"We believe the resources are insufficient to address the scope and scale of the anticipated mass migration," the lawmakers wrote. "A declaration pursuant to Executive Order 13276 is necessary to reinforce the State of Florida's efforts by utilizing Department of Defense vessels to conduct maritime interdictions and interceptions of aliens from Haiti and repatriate them, preferably to Port-au-Prince, as this limits the financial obligation of U.S. taxpayers.
"We urge you to engage the necessary assets to conduct maritime interdictions and interceptions of Haitians under 46 U.S. Code § 70051 and Executive Order 13276 and repatriate them to Port-au-Prince."
Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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