[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 51 (Friday, March 22, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1491-H1493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HAITI: ANOTHER MISSION OF MERCY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Green) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud, liberated 
Democrat, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid. In the spirit of Shirley 
Chisholm, I rise, a great and noble American.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on another mission of mercy. I rise today 
because this morning, at approximately 4:30 a.m., I was reviewing a 
news story. In this news story, there was an indication that there was 
death in Haiti. I had an opportunity to see on the screen of my 
television the horrors that were emanating from the story.
  Mr. Speaker, I saw a person lying in the street who was apparently 
without life. It is not a pleasant thing to see someone without life, 
but to see a person lying in the street without life, with only a 
portion of the body discernible, was quite an experience.

[[Page H1492]]

  As I saw this person lying in the street, Mr. Speaker, I also saw 
persons passing by. Most of them were on vehicles of the two-wheel 
variety. As they passed by, some of them looked but others barely 
glanced. Among those passing by were young and old, but also there was 
a person who was with law enforcement who passed by a body lying in the 
street.
  Someone was interviewed, and it was explained by the person 
interviewed that this person had been attacked, had been attacked by 
people who were of the opinion that they were defending themselves. 
They attacked this person with machetes and severed limbs from the 
body. At least that is the way it appeared to me as I viewed this on my 
TV screen. It was quite shocking and appalling to see this body lying 
in the street with people just simply passing by.
  Haiti is a country in turmoil. If you believe that injustice 
anywhere, as Dr. King put it, is a threat to justice everywhere, you 
have to be concerned about what is happening in Haiti. You have to be 
concerned. The statistical information related to the atrocities that 
are occurring can stir the soul, can literally cause persons to come to 
tears, if you truly care about people.
  I would like to share some of the information. Hopefully, those who 
believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere will 
have some concern about the injustice that is taking place in Haiti.
  According to the U.N. Special Representative for Haiti, more than 
8,400 people were victims of gang violence in Haiti in the last year. 
The last year alone, more than 8,400 people have been victims of gang 
violence.
  Now, Haiti is a country with a population of a little more than 11 
million, perhaps about 11,500,000. Haiti is a country that is closer to 
the United States than Houston, Texas, is to El Paso, Texas. Haiti is 
just off of our shores. We ought to be concerned.
  Haiti, last year, including killings, injuries, and kidnappings, had 
about a 122 percent increase over 2022. The U.N. Commissioner for Human 
Rights, Volker Turk, warned that across Haiti, last year, at least 
3,600 people had been killed, 1,432 injured, and 2,951 kidnapped in 
gang-related violence, and this was as of November.
  The number of injuries in Haiti, according to United Nations 
quarterly report on human rights, situated in Haiti, lynchings--
lynchings are something that causes me a good deal of concern with my 
history. My history is one that has suffered great lynchings--lynchings 
have left at least 76 people dead across the country. At least 1,634 
people were killed or injured as a result of violence by criminal 
groups. Gangs of people killed 1,634 people.

  At least 693 people were kidnapped in the last quarter of 2023, an 
increase of 18 percent over the previous quarter. At least 53 children, 
some as young as 6 months old, were kidnapped, killed, or injured 
during the last quarter of 2023.
  This ought to cause people who believe that injustice anywhere is a 
threat to justice everywhere to have some concern.
  Almost 500 children had no time to escape from a school they were 
trapped in and had to remain in that school for some 2 days.
  The healthcare situation in Haiti has greatly deteriorated. According 
to the Guardian, Haiti's healthcare system has all but collapsed amid 
the ferocious gang insurrection that is taking place. Hospitals have 
been set ablaze. Doctors have been murdered. Even basic medical 
supplies have dried up. Currently, only one public hospital in Haiti's 
capital, Port-au-Prince, remains operational, but it is expected to 
shut its doors.
  Mr. Speaker, a summary of the food situation can bring one to ask how 
we could allow such circumstances to exist. According to NPR, since the 
COVID virus took its toll, at least 4 million people in Haiti have been 
acutely food insecure. Now, out of those 4 million, 1 million are one 
step away from famine.
  According to the Washington Post, there were disturbances in January, 
and food prices jumped 25 percent in the south where roadblocks came up 
and trucks weren't able to get to Port-au-Prince with basic 
necessities.
  Mr. Speaker, the World Food Programme survey found that as prices go 
up, household incomes are going down, because people can't go to work 
and are sheltering in place and aren't going to earn money.
  If we truly believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice 
everywhere, we have to be concerned about the persons in Haiti because 
many of them will want to leave and seek safety elsewhere. Some of them 
will make an attempt to come to this country.
  Unfortunately, our country has a history of turning Haitians away. It 
wasn't that long ago that as the persons from Cuba were escaping Cuba 
and coming to this country, we had a policy that was styled as, known 
as, called, if you will, wet-foot/dry-foot.
  This policy of wet-foot/dry-foot would allow a Cuban to get one foot 
on dry land in the United States of America and then move forward into 
the country, move forward on a pathway that would lead to jobs, that 
would lead to a better life, and possibly lead to citizenship in the 
country. Wet-foot/dry-foot was the name of the policy. It applied to 
Cubans.
  At the same time Cubans were arriving in this country from Castro's 
Cuba, as we have called it, Haitians were arriving. Haitians were 
fleeing poverty, despair, hunger, and death. At the same time Cubans 
were arriving, the Haitians could get both feet on dry land, could 
acquire a job, but if they were discovered, they were sent back to 
Haiti.
  There was one policy for persons coming from Cuba, known as wet-foot/
dry-foot. That is the way the policy was styled. There was another 
policy for persons coming from Haiti that would cause them to be 
returned to Haiti, back to despair, back to poverty, and some of them 
back to lives that are unthinkable as we envision life for human 
beings.
  We have not treated Haiti fairly when compared to how we treated 
others within this hemisphere, a country that is closer to the United 
States than Houston, Texas, is to El Paso, Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, if we truly believe that injustice anywhere is a threat 
to justice everywhere, we ought to release the $40 million that are 
available to help Haiti. We have $40 million available that we could 
release if we only agree to let the money that has already been 
appropriated go to Haiti. We have $40 million available. It is not 
enough, but more than they would have, and it would be of help to some.
  Two people out of 435, plus 100 in the Senate, are holding up this 
money that could go to Haiti and help the Haitian people. If you truly 
believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, 
release the $40 million, release the money to Haiti.
  There could be any number of reasons why you would hold the money, 
but in my opinion, what is happening in Haiti, as I have explained it, 
would justify releasing the money. Release the money so that Haiti can 
get some of the help that it needs.
  Voltaire reminded us that those who can make you believe absurdities 
can make you commit atrocities.
  It is an absurdity to believe that holding onto this $40 million is 
somehow going to benefit us and the people in Haiti. That $40 million 
ought to be released.
  It is an absurdity to think that holding onto this $40 million is 
somehow going to improve conditions in Haiti. I don't believe anyone 
believes that.

                              {time}  1245

  Nonetheless, I also would hope that no one believes that holding onto 
the $40 million is more important than helping those persons who are 
suffering in Haiti. We ought to release this $40 million. It is an 
absurdity to hold onto this money, and, Mr. Speaker, those who can 
cause you to believe absurdities can cause you to commit atrocities.
  In truth, our fingerprints now are on some of what is happening in 
Haiti because we could prevent some of what is happening in Haiti with 
the funds that have already been allocated, but because we refuse to 
send the $40 million, people are going to suffer.
  Not enough money is the $40 million, but it is more than they have, 
and it can alleviate some of the suffering that is taking place.
  I rise on this mission of mercy with an appeal to the two people who 
but with their signatures could release $40 million to suffering 
people.
  Use that pen to make a difference. Take your hand, Mr. Speaker, grab

[[Page H1493]]

that pen, and release that $40 million to the Haitians who can benefit 
from it.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice 
everywhere, and we have a threat that is imminent and can, 
unfortunately, take its place across the gulf and find its home here in 
this country.
  Injustice does not stay within the confines of any one border if it 
persists long enough. It is time for us to help the people in Haiti and 
release the $40 million.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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