Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Crisis in Haiti demands a humanitarian response
To know what it’s like to live in a constant state of fear, anarchy and hopelessness, take note of Haiti.
What’s left of its government is no longer functioning. Food and water are scarce.
Armed gangs, some 200 of them, control the capital. They have burned police stations and freed more than 4,000 criminals. They are kidnapping and killing people, forcing thousands to abandon their homes. They have looted hospitals and shut down commerce. They demanded and got the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, leaving no one to receive the multinational policing force, led by Kenya, that he had arranged with help from the United States.
The nation has been without a president since Jovenel Moise was assassinated three years ago.
People fear being shot on sight if they venture out to search for what food there may be, says state Rep. Marie Woodson, D-Hollywood, who was born in Haiti and still has family there.
“My country is in chaos and people are dying,” Woodson told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. “I’ve never felt so helpless, and so hopeless.”
She’s urging the Biden administration to air-drop food to the people, as it did in Gaza.
That’s a good idea, but much more needs to be done.
President Joe Biden needs to revive the multinational force — which involves no U.S. troops — and persuade congressional Republicans to free up a $40 million contribution they are blocking. Republicans say the details are vague and that the aid could wind up in the wrong hands, and those are valid concerns that Biden must address.
In desperate straits
Every lost day will mean desperate refugees crowding into small boats to try to reach sanctuary in the U.S., where an anti-immigrant governor, Ron DeSantis, is waiting to dash their hopes.
There’s no end in sight to the anarchy, lawlessness, terror and the pervasive misery in the hemisphere’s poorest nation, which has never fully recovered from the earthquake that killed some 200,000 people 14 years ago.
If you were trapped in Haiti, wouldn’t you want to get out?
The crisis calls into question again whether Americans are as kind-hearted as we might think. Woodson and other Haitian advocates are terrified that DeSantis means to use the Florida State Guard, which the Legislature unwisely reactivated, to intercept desperate Haitian refugees and send them back to Haiti to die.
DeSantis is talking about a special legislative session to pass a law like Texas enacted, allowing its officers to arrest people simply for being undocumented immigrants. Legislative leaders should reject that idea.
It’s not just inhumane, given what’s happening in Haiti. It is also an unconstitutional invasion of federal responsibility. A district judge in Texas so ruled and a panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to let Texas enforce the law while the litigation plays out.
In Congress, 67 representatives and senators signed a letter calling on the federal government to stop deporting undocumented Haitian immigrants and to expand and extend the temporary protected status (TPS) of Haitians who came here to escape the ravages of the earthquake.
That’s the least the government could do. Newly arriving Haitians should be given TPS as well. To make Haiti safe for their return demands the swift fulfillment of that promised multinational force.
Reflecting the prominence that Haitians have already achieved as immigrants and citizens in Florida, six Florida representatives, all Democrats, signed the letter.
They include Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian Democrat in Congress, and Reps. Frederica Wilson, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Lois Frankel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Darren Soto.
American-made guns
Our nation’s responsibility toward Haiti isn’t merely that of a good neighbor. It’s complicated by what a bad one we are in facilitating the arming of the Haitian gangs. As with the drug cartels in Mexico and
Central America, the U.S. arms industry is effectively their silent partner.
Last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime cited a Haitian agency’s estimate that there could be up to 500,000 small arms in the country. Most were smuggled illegally in conjunction with illegal narcotics, for which Haiti is a busy transit point.
According to the U.N. report, “The principal source of firearms and munitions in Haiti is in the U.S., and in particular, Florida. Popular handguns selling for $400-$500 at federally licensed firearms outlets or private gun shows in the U.S. can be resold for as much as $10,000 in Haiti,” with assault weapons fetching even higher prices.
“A network of criminal actors, including members of the Haitian diaspora, often source firearms from across the U.S. … Weapons are frequently procured through straw man purchases in U.S. states with looser gun laws and fewer purchasing restrictions. Once acquired, firearms and ammunition are then transported to Florida, where they are concealed and shipped to Haiti,” according to the report.
DeSantis should use his influence, and state resources, to stop the flow of guns and ammunition from Florida to Haiti.
Cherfilus-McCormick is co-sponsoring legislation aimed at reducing gun trafficking to the Caribbean. Its thrust is to require the government to report annually on how it is carrying out existing anti-trafficking laws.
U.S. arms traffickers are pouring gasoline on Haiti’s flames. It’s time to quench the fire, put them out of business, and restore order where anarchy now rules. But anxiety is growing daily that it may be too late.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@ sun-sentinel.com.