While Washington and the nation, at large, is focused on the Southern border, there is a forgotten invasion of Florida.
I recently paid a visit to the brave Coast Guardsmen keeping Florida safe from illegal immigration and drug traffickers. The Coast Guard was gracious enough to give me a briefing and an aerial tour.
I decided to make this trip after looking over recent shocking migrant statistics — particularly of the number of illegal Haitian immigrants entering Florida.
Between January and May of 2023 alone, CBP encountered 23,490 illegal Haitians in its Florida sector. For comparison, in Fiscal Years 2020, 2021, and 2022 combined – CBP encountered just 1,479 in its Florida sector.
The Coast Guard routinely interdicts Haitians on the ocean attempting to reach Florida through the Florida straits as well as the Bimini and Bahamian passageways.
Since Oct. 1, 2022, Coast Guard crews interdicted 4,717 Haitian migrants. That’s a whopping 1000 percent increase from the 418 Haitian migrants caught at sea in all of Fiscal Year 2017.
Every Haitian that gets to land functionally gets to stay in Florida forever.
Unlike when illegal immigrants cross the Southern border, and disperse throughout the country, these Haitians are congregating in Southeast Florida and overrunning taxpayer resources.
Haiti is not sending its best on these boats. I learned on my trip that our brave Coast Guardsmen have to witness some tragic stuff while dealing with Haitian illegal immigrants. One told me, “When we approach the vessels, sometimes the Haitians soak babies in gasoline and threaten to burn them alive if we board.”
We need to be honest about the impact of unfettered illegal immigration from Haiti.
These aren’t software engineers being caught at sea. A 2005 study of Haitian immigrants in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood found that just 22 percent had a High School degree. That same year, over 85 percent of adults nationwide had a high school degree.
The impact of Haitian illegal immigration on Florida’s social services is significant. They are more than twice as likely to use food stamps, Medicaid, and other major welfare programs than their native-born peers.
These illegal migrants also impose a significant burden on Florida’s hospitals. A 2005 study found that nearly a third of Haitians in Miami used taxpayer-subsidized healthcare. Haitian migrants in Miami have higher rates of chronic health conditions, such as HIV/AIDS and he country is one of the worst for tuberculosis. This is due to a number of factors, including poverty. Haitians are the poorest national group in Miami-Dade County.
This is all understandable considering what sort of nation Haiti is. Haiti is a miserable place and has been for a long time. The government there is corrupt and the quality of life is the worst in the Western Hemisphere. I know. I’ve been there and I saw it. It was a sad, horrid state of human existence and I wish that the corruption that has harmed these people didn’t exist — but it does. The fact that Haiti is close to Florida, does not mean that my state should be inundated with illegal Haitian immigrants.
They don’t just burden our state’s social services, but also our state’s prisons. Fort Myers police officer Adam Jobbers-Miller was killed in 2018 after being shot in the head by an alien from Haiti with an immigration detainer. That was an avoidable death.
We are not Haiti. The United States has the capability to solve this migrant crisis. We must surge Department of Defense resources, including the Navy, to stop this invasion of Florida. Every illegal immigrant caught trying to come to America must be swiftly returned back to his nation.
We also need internal enforcement. The illegal immigrants that came here can’t stay. There will be no pathway to citizenship. They must go back.
One of the things that separates our wonderful country from a place like Haiti is the rule of law. Let’s enforce it.
I cannot sit idly by as Biden tries to Haiti my Florida.
Matt Gaetz represents Florida’s 1st Congressional District.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.