Pentagon officials testified in Congress Tuesday that the Department of Defense is preparing for a mass influx of Haitians into the US in the wake of the complete collapse of law and order in the Caribbean island state.
(Article by Steve Watson republished from Modernity.news)
The comments were made during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, after Rep. Matt Gaetz asked “what we are doing to prepare for that wave?”
Gaetz also asked for clarification on what is being done “to ensure that these people are not paroled into the United States as the administration has done with people on the southern border, but instead are repatriated back at the dock at Port-au-Prince?”
Following my questioning of DoD officials on the collapsing state of Haiti, the Biden Administration will now contemplate using the Department of Defense & the U.S. Navy to STOP the anticipated mass migration of Haitians into Florida! https://t.co/umJ01AqY2Lpic.twitter.com/V3YoW4nG5K
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) March 12, 2024
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security Rebecca Zimmerman responded, noting that the DoD is “doing a number of things to ensure that we’re keeping track of the situation and we’re prepared.”
“At the moment we have not yet seen large numbers, what we would characterise as a maritime mass migration, but we are alert to that possibility. I think you’re right that the driving conditions in Haiti could very well press more people,” Zimmerman further noted.
Gaetz pressed the Pentagon official to consider deploying more naval vessels to support the Coast Guard, noting that “there is the ability for any president to designate an anticipated mass migration, and get gray hull naval vessels into the straits of Florida to deter that migration and then to repatriate those people before they get to Florida.”
“I think you correctly said that there is an anticipated mass migration here, there are specific legal authorities that we can access that I would implore you to access, specifically, George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13276,” Gaetz pointed out.
As we highlighted earlier, Border Patrol agents in Florida have been warned to brace for a large influx of migrants from Haiti after vicious gangs took over the country.
An internal agency email that was leaked to the New York Post cautioned that migrants could arrive in huge waves by sea and overwhelm already stretched resources.
Read more at: Modernity.news
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