Ron DeSantis has threatened to send Haitian migrants to leafy Democratic enclaves in the north as turf wars engulf the embattled Caribbean country.
Florida’s governor said refugees arriving in his state would head in the same direction as the thousands of migrants he has already bused to Democratic strongholds such as Sacramento and Martha’s Vineyard.
Attacks spread to upmarket neighborhoods in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, killing at least a dozen people on Monday as police officer-turned-gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier and his thousands of heavily armed followers try to seize power.
But DeSantis has already sent more than 100 police and state guardsmen to coastal areas to clear out any new arrivals who have escaped the violence.
“We also have our transportation program that will be operational,” he told podcaster Dana Loesch on Tuesday.
“Haitians are landing in the Florida Keys, their next stop could be Martha’s Vineyard.”
Gang leader Ezechielle Alexandre was looking for support and demanded that the residents of the Carrefour Feuilles district retake it from rival gangs
A resident checks to see if he knows any of the hundreds of dead people now lying on the streets
Burned-out cars now litter the streets of even relatively affluent suburbs
El Patriota, a news website in the neighboring Dominican Republic, posted graphic images Tuesday of a man whose throat was slit with a machete before his body was dragged down the street from the back of a motorcycle.
Nearly 1.5 million Haitians are on the brink of famine and much of the capital remains without power after Monday’s attacks on five of its power stations left them “completely dysfunctional,” according to aid groups.
Barbecue, a former police officer turned gangmaster, has claimed responsibility for the latest wave of attacks and said his aim is to capture Haiti’s police chief and government ministers and prompt Henry’s return to the Caribbean country to prevent.
Barbecue’s threats will have struck fear in the hearts of many Haitians, while his reputation for burning people alive – something he has long denied – preceded him.
He has promised a revolution and his gangs have said his goal is to capture Haiti’s police chief and government ministers.
He is believed to be behind Monday’s attacks in the relatively affluent Petionville neighborhood, which awakened more than a dozen bodies littering the streets.
“Two young boys suddenly appeared and opened fire,” resident Exilien Dagene told Al Jazera.
‘They didn’t speak to anyone, they just came forward and started shooting.
Gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier has vowed to take control of the Caribbean island
The violence escalated on March 11 and left police struggling to gain control
A woman in the capital cries as the bodies of people she knew are removed from the streets
Alexandre’s call to arms found support in the besieged Carrefour Feuilles district
Hundreds followed the gang leader as he marched unchallenged through the community
“We woke up this morning to bodies in our community.”
“We will start removing those bodies before the children walk by to go to school and the vendors arrive,” said Douce Titi from the mayor’s office.
Gunmen also looted homes before dawn in the communities of Laboule and Thomassin, forcing residents to flee while some called radio stations pleading for police.
Violence has escalated since Prime Minister Ariel Henry was forced out of office last week amid anger over his announcement of yet another postponement of the long-delayed election.
About 80 percent of Port-au-Prince was already in the hands of armed gangs before Henry was swept from power and fled to neighboring Puerto Rico, from where he is trying to agree on a transitional government among Haiti’s powerful elites.
Meanwhile, the gangs have expanded their control over the city, closing the port and airport as they battle for control.
Barbecue’s rival gang lord Ezechielle Alexandre staged a show of force in the capital’s devastated Carrefour Feuilles district on Tuesday, along with hundreds of his supporters.
Mountains of rubbish and burnt-out cars line the neighborhood’s streets, where gangs of heavily armed men patrol.
Former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe warned on Tuesday that there is a “massive security gap and collapse” in Haiti.
He said the country had a strong military and police force until Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president and he then disbanded it out of lack of trust, which has created the security gap the country now sees.
And he claimed that Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere outside of Costa Rica that has no military and has the highest gang activity after El Salvador.
‘That created a void. And that created a situation where we’re dealing with that void being filled by gangs,” Lamothe said.
“Haiti is probably the only country in the world where gangs do Facebook Live every day on Facebook.”
Twenty-five Haitians, including five children, were arrested earlier this month off the coast of Florida in a boat complete with firearms, night vision goggles and drugs by the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has called for the restoration of law and order on the island
Thousands of people have been killed in the violence and nearly 1.5 million people are at risk of famine
And DeSantis insisted that no one would be accepted as legal immigrants.
“Look, Dana, I have to defend my state,” he said.
“I’m in enough trouble just dealing with people fleeing blue states and moving to Florida.”
In total, more than 350,000 people have been displaced in Haiti, including more than 15,000 in the past two weeks, the BBC reported.
On Mondays and Fridays, the Dominican Republic opens its border to Haitians who want to shop at the food market at the end of the border bridge.
However, the Dominican government has deported large numbers of Haitians who attempt to overstay their welcome and has advised Haitians not to seek refuge in their territory, Hispaniola.