Congressional Republicans from Florida are urging the White House to recognize an "anticipated mass migration of aliens en route to, or arriving off the coast of, the United States."
U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna and Daniel Webster all signed on to a letter to the Joe Biden administration urging "maritime interdictions and interceptions of Haitians" and asking the feds to "repatriate them, preferably to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as this limits the financial obligation of U.S. taxpayers."
The GOP quartet acknowledges that "Florida will deploy additional law enforcement resources to the southern regions of the state," but argues "the resources are insufficient to address the scope and scale of the anticipated mass migration."
This refers to Operation Vigilant Sentry, which 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 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 letter from the House members follows up on a similar communication from the state's two Senators.
U.S. Sens. 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?"
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