Central Florida faith leaders, clergy and support staff have put out an urgent call to action to support Haiti.
Florida has the highest population of Haitian Americans in the United States.
Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021. Now, Prime Minister Ariel Henry has resigned, as gangs have ramped up violent attacks on the capital.
These are the same gangs that are responsible for an uptick in killings, rapes, and kidnappings in the country.
Rich Morales is the political director of Orlando-based advocacy group Faith in Action. He called on Central Florida faith communities to support ones in South Florida who are receiving the bulk of migrants from the country.
“There’s an opportunity to support congregations that are taking in refugees and I think that’s an important step that we talk about,” said Morales.
He also called on these same houses of worship to write their members of Congress asking for among other things, increased humanitarian aid to Haiti.
The group is circulating an online petition that gets sent straight to a person’s representative.
“Please look out for the link again, share the link with your congregations and organizations so that you can send an email right to your member of Congress,” said Morales.
Gov. Ron DeSantis deployed more than 250 additional troops to South Florida to curb immigration from Haiti.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management has also launched a portal to help Floridians in Haiti. Floridians and their family members can use the link to request help, including evacuations from the country.
