The U.S. Border Patrol has put its agents in Miami on high alert ahead of a potential influx of Haitian refugees amid widespread gang violence in the Caribbean country.
"One landing will cripple the station and our ability to respond to other traffic," an internal Border Patrol email obtained by the New York Post said, adding that "with the breakdown of the government in Haiti repatriating Haitians may not be happening for the foreseeable future."
The leaked email urged local officials to contain the incoming migrants to one area, while providing medical assistance and verifying parent-child relationships. "The hardest part is keeping the landing contained to a given area. We will want to have medical (local EMS) on scene to check on those who will need it," the email read. "Often, they will claim that a juvenile is accompanied when they really are not, so if there is a juvenile make sure that that is a true parent-child relationship."
Haiti’s recent riots and gang violence have displaced about 15,000 people, with local gang members looting, burning buildings, and attacking police stations. Thousands of prisoners have escaped onto the streets, which are reportedly littered with corpses in Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital. Gang members have also shut down airports and road access to the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Haitian prime minister Ariel Henry, who is now in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, said on Tuesday that he "will resign immediately after the installation of [a transition] council." Many Haitians consider Henry corrupt and reportedly celebrated in the streets of Port-au-Prince following the announcement.