Every time desperate Haitian migrants in crowded wooden boats arrive in South Florida, Leonie M. Hermantin said she thinks about what they are trying to get away from.
Hermantin, a UC Berkeley lawyer, works for Sant La, a nonprofit organization that is also known as the Haitian Neighborhood Center. It has offices in North Miami and Homestead.
“These people are facing a perilous voyage because danger at sea is less than the danger at home,” Hermantin said.
The lack of security in Haiti deeply affects the work at Sant La, she said, adding that thousands of asylum seekers have contacted the organization for help.
The Haitian government reported on Sunday that a former senator was set on fire inside a car on Saturday in Port-au-Prince near where President Jovenel Moïse was killed last year.
The United Nations reported the conflict between gangs and police for control of territory is holding residents hostage in ”a cycle of fear, stress, and despair” in areas of Port-au-Prince.
“Some of us can’t even travel to Port-au-Prince because we fear the violence,” Hermantin said adding that the conflict is “leaving a population vulnerable to random acts of violence.”
Human smugglers who are working in the shadows where despair meets hope regularly overload vessels with Haitians who are desperate to escape the crisis. The U.S. Coast Guard reported intercepting four times as many Haitian migrants this fiscal year compared to the last.
Related link on the web: Congressional hearing on policy recommendations on Haiti
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Hermantin, a UC Berkeley lawyer, works for Sant La, a nonprofit organization that is also known as the Haitian Neighborhood Center. It has offices in North Miami and Homestead.
“These people are facing a perilous voyage because danger at sea is less than the danger at home,” Hermantin said.
The lack of security in Haiti deeply affects the work at Sant La, she said, adding that thousands of asylum seekers have contacted the organization for help.
The Haitian government reported on Sunday that a former senator was set on fire inside a car on Saturday in Port-au-Prince near where President Jovenel Moïse was killed last year.
The United Nations reported the conflict between gangs and police for control of territory is holding residents hostage in ”a cycle of fear, stress, and despair” in areas of Port-au-Prince.
“Some of us can’t even travel to Port-au-Prince because we fear the violence,” Hermantin said adding that the conflict is “leaving a population vulnerable to random acts of violence.”
Human smugglers who are working in the shadows where despair meets hope regularly overload vessels with Haitians who are desperate to escape the crisis. The U.S. Coast Guard reported intercepting four times as many Haitian migrants this fiscal year compared to the last.
Related link on the web: Congressional hearing on policy recommendations on Haiti
Continue reading...
