TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State officials call their effort to get nearly 400 Floridians home from beleaguered Haiti a "bureaucratic mess." That's as the foreign nation’s government splinters and federal rescue attempts overlap with Florida's.
The state's first rescue flight landed Wednesday night in Sanford, returning 14 Floridians home. It was the initial touchdown of an ongoing effort to bring around 400 residents back from the foreign nation. Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said it was slow going.
"We're trying to move through the bureaucratic mess," Guthrie said. "But it's, it's a real thing. It is a very real thing."
Guthrie is helping coordinate the rescue flights, which he says are being hampered by a litany of issues. Haiti's government is splintered. There's a need to coordinate with other nations. Jurisdiction issues abound. Paperwork is slow. Plus, the director said at least one foreign official insists on only speaking with the governor before planes fly.
Guthrie said working with the federal government hasn’t been much smoother. Immigration checks and diplomatic clearances hindered the pace.
"We actually had faster success moving people from 5,000 miles away in Israel than we are 500 miles away in Haiti," Guthrie said. "It's absolutely insane."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wasted little time bashing President Joe Biden for the delay while speaking to Fox News Thursday morning.
"It has been like pulling teeth when dealing with some of these federal agencies," DeSantis said. "The reality is you have an easier time getting into this country illegally than you do just to be rescued."
Florida's missions coincide with federal rescue plans already underway. Authorities with Florida DEM said they’d been notified the U.S. State Department was working on at least two flights to bring around 300 Americans home. It had critics questioning if Florida needed to stand down.
"I mean using state resources for what is a federal issue is just bad policy," Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said.
Eskamani worried about the cost of stepping into what she saw as the federal government's domain. While the state lawmaker said she was "not 100% against helping Americans get out of Haiti as long as there is coordination with the federal government," state resources are also being used to interdict migrants crossing the ocean and the southern border.
Eskamani said Florida should be focused on its domestic issues.
"It's really important that these officials are focused on our state," she said. "Versus what really ends up being a political agenda by the Governor to try to draw a contrast to President Biden."
Further fueling Eskamani's concerns, Florida's revenue projections are lower compared to previous years. Even so, the flights will continue, said state officials.
"At the end of the day, the No. 1 role of government is to keep people safe and secure," Guthrie said. "And that's why we're doing that."
State authorities also said anyone in places like the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos or Jamaica, who thinks they can help with the ongoing rescue operations in Haiti, should contact the Florida Division of Emergency Management.