Frost blasts DeSantis on Haiti, calls for helping refugees fleeing violence

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost on Tuesday called for extending protected status for Haitians fleeing the violence in their country and slammed Gov. Ron DeSantis for suggesting he might call a special session to arrest and detain Haitian refugees who come to Florida.

“Imagine the Haitian people in our community waking up every morning to see the devastation in Haiti,” said Frost, D-Orlando, at a press conference at his Orlando office. “And [then they] turn on the TV and see their bigoted governor use his power not to console the people, not to tell them he’s going to do what he can to help the island and to help Haiti, but to demonize and dehumanize them. It’s disgusting.”

DeSantis has organized flights out of Haiti for Floridians and other Americans but also launched Operation Vigilant Sentry to prevent Haitians from landing boats on the state’s coast. He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Sunday he could seek a special session to increase the state’s powers to detain Haitian migrants as a “disincentive” to keep them out of Florida.

Florida has not seen a major influx of Haitian refugees this year.

At a roundtable discussion beforehand, Haitian Americans from Central Florida told Frost of their concerns and worries about Haiti and what the U.S. government can do to help their families. They also stressed Haitian distrust of the United States because of centuries of exploitation and invasion.

“For me, Haiti is down the street,” said Isaie Marc, a member of the hospitalities union UNITE-HERE. “There are a lot of things that we can do to fix what’s going on in Haiti. [But] I’m trying to understand what the plan is right now.”

Nattacha Wyllie said she spoke with a friend on the phone the night before, well into the morning.

“They stay up just so they can secure their neighborhood from the gangs and from the people running, leaving their homes to come and sleep under tents or wherever they possibly can,” Wyllie said.

Marie Jose Francois said she has had an application for her brother to immigrate from Haiti since 2020.

“Please, if anybody can rescue my only brother for me,” she said. “… I don’t know what else I’m going to do.”

She added she was “not ashamed to say that I am a Haitian and proud to be a Haitian. … They are talking about how we are the poorest [country]. To me … it’s the richest country in the world because it’s my country.”

Others called for the appointment of a special envoy to Haiti, with one suggesting former President Barack Obama, and transferring the embassy to outside the gang-ravaged capital.

More than 500,000 Haitians lived in Florida in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s survey, making up nearly half of all Haitians in the U.S. That includes more than 40,000 Haitians living in the Orlando area.

“Any committee that’s going to be making those decisions [needs] to bring in voices from the diaspora,” said Kelly Clerveau of the immigration group IDiginity.

Frost said the U.S. “must use every tool at our disposal to help restore stability, ensure aid and protect innocent patients while centering the Haitian people.”

He said extending protections for Haitians in the U.S. was “a matter of life or death for thousands of Haitians who rely on this designation for protection and stability.”

“We believe that this country has a duty to help fight innocent migrants fleeing instability and violence,” Frost said. “But unfortunately, we have leaders like Gov. Ron DeSantis, who would rather use inhumane policies and rhetoric to treat those seeking refuge without the dignity and compassion that they deserve.”

Frost added that his office is planning a town hall in the coming weeks to connect Haitian Americans with important resources, stressing that the help will continue even when the crisis fades.

“Obviously, things have unraveled and it seems quickly to a lot of folks,” Frost said. “But for the people here, they’ve seen it unraveling for a long time. There [have] been mistakes made by Democrats and Republicans. So we’ve got to make sure that we don’t let our government forget about Haiti.”

Marc cited the economic importance of his community, saying most of the 19,000 workers in UNITE-HERE Local 737 were Haitian.

“Without our people, I’m talking about the Haitian people, there is no hospitality industry,” Marc said. “We run that. Without the Haitian sisters and brothers, we don’t have hotels, we don’t have restaurants. … It’s time for us to step up with the Haitian people, to give them the respect that they deserve.”