Florida's Senators want President Joe Biden to help Floridians get ready for an expected influx of Haitians as the island nation deals with more domestic unrest.
Marco Rubio and Rick Scott on Friday released a letter to the White House demanding its "plan to deal with the significant unrest in Haiti and prevent this humanitarian and security crisis from having a direct negative impact on American families in Florida and across the United States."
"There have been numerous reports of gangs committing jailbreaks in Haiti and releasing thousands of dangerous criminals," the Senators write. "If individuals from Haiti arrive in the United States, how will your administration guarantee that no criminals are granted entry into the interior of our country?"
The letter also blames Biden for the chaos in the Caribbean nation, with an immigration policy said to pose "the greatest risk to the American homeland since 9/11."
"Your entire administration can be summed up as this: you create a magnet for illegal immigration here, appease evil regimes, and put the American people at risk, while further expecting taxpayers to pay for the unrest, humanitarian crises and mass border crossings that result ... What the world is witnessing in Haiti as gangs take over the island is a symptom of political unrest in the Western Hemisphere that only has grown under your administration."
The state of Florida has launched its own response, meanwhile. Operation Vigilant Sentry is designed to keep Haitian refugees from making landfall and finding refuge in Florida, with 250 total forces deployed. More than half of them are from the Florida State Guard.
In addition to that 133-member contingent, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will send 39 additional officers, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will deploy 23 additional officers with eight additional seacraft, the Florida National Guard will engage 48 additional Guardsmen with four additional helicopters, and the Florida Highway Patrol will allocate 30 additional officers with an additional aircraft and drones for surveillance.
The Division of Emergency Management is also launching an assistance portal for Floridians and other Americans trapped in the Caribbean country amid yet another round of domestic unrest.
The portal consists of a fill-in-the-blank form that requests the name, exact location, gender, birth date, cellphone number, email, information about Florida residency and the trapped person's passport number, issue date, and expiration date. Additionally, the state wants to know if people are traveling with animals or as part of a group needing help, as well as contact information for someone stateside and the desired arrival location of the travelers who might need help.
No comments:
Post a Comment