>>This week on NewsNight, Central Florida's Haitian community responds to the political and security crisis in the Caribbean country.

A look at the concerns over potential impacts for our state and steps being taken to evacuate U.S. citizens.

NewsNight starts now.

(Music) >>Hello, I'm Steve Mort and welcome to NewsNight, where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in central Florida and how they affect all of us.

First tonight, the crisis in Haiti and how it's playing out here in Florida.

The state this week flew another evacuation flight out of the Caribbean country to Sanford, adding to U.S. government efforts to get citizens out amid a political vacuum and widespread violence.

On Tuesday, Orlando Congressman Democrat Maxwell Frost met with the Haitian community in central Florida to discuss the crisis and the U.S. response.

>>We want the Haitian people to have autonomy and the respect to govern themselves.

We want Haitian immigrants in this country to receive equality and equity while they're here in this country to receive services like any other immigrant group that is facing political instability, economic instability, natural disasters, and a ray of other violence is happening in their whole country.

We want the opportunity to live peacefully in this country.

We want the opportunity to be asylum seekers and to have safety here in the United States.

>>I talked with Representative Frost, who is calling for an extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S. to allow them to stay here during the current instability back home.

He's also joined several other Democrats in Congress to urge the White House to halt deportations of Haitian nationals back to the country during the crisis.

I asked him why.

>>Well, in the case of Haiti, the situation in Haiti is very unique.

There is no government.

There's no functioning government in Haiti right now.

It's completely overrun by gangs.

There's a lot of violence.

There's no infrastructure.

People are starving.

People are dying.

And it is a huge humanitarian crisis.

And so because of that, it is inhumane to send people back to Haiti where when they are dealing with so much turmoil and so many issues.

And so it's basic common sense to me that we shouldn't be deporting people back to a place that is so destabilized, especially while at the same time we're working to stabilize and make sure that Haiti has the resources and backing it needs to get back on track for the sovereignty it deserves and should have.

>>Congressman Maxwell Frost.

Meanwhile, some Republicans reject offering additional immigration pathways and they're demanding the White House toughen up immigration enforcement to prevent a potential large influx of Haitians to Florida.

Governor DeSantis says Florida is sending scores of military and police personnel to the Keys and has even mentioned the idea of a special legislative session to give immigration enforcement powers to Florida agencies.

Florida's U.S. senators have written to the president to demand a plan to stop a mass migration.

Among the Republicans demanding answers is Volusia County Congressman Mike Waltz.

I asked him whether he believes mass migration is likely and how he thinks the U.S. should respond.

>>I was briefed at just how desperate the situation is becoming.

And I think people that are -- sadly, and it's tragic and my heart breaks for them that are that desperate are going to do incredibly desperate and even dangerous things.

So, look, I think at some point the straw is going to break and we have to be prepared.

The Coast Guard is putting assets in place.

But my concern is that other agencies like Customs and Border Patrol don't have the authorities to help the Coast Guard.

So I have legislation.

It's passed unanimously out of committee.

It's bipartisan.

We're trying to get it out of the House now.

That would double the amount of area that Customs and Border Patrol can interdict migrants.

It's actually a safety issue for them, but it's also an interdiction issue for us.

We don't want Florida's coastline to turn into the southern border of Texas.

>>Congressman Mike Waltz.

I talked in depth with Representatives Frost and Waltz.

You can find those full interviews on our website, WUCF.org/NewsNight You can also listen on the NewsNight podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.

At the same time, the U.S. is backing efforts to form a transitional government following the promised resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Haitian-American community leaders in central Florida voiced frustration this week with the Presidential Transitional Council and Caribbean community nations known as CARICOM, saying Haitians were being excluded from the process.

But the U.S. Secretary of State says the multilateral effort is vital.

>> A political crisis, escalating violence, unrest.

This has created an untenable situation for the Haitian people, and we all know that urgent action is needed on both political and security tracks to help move things in a better direction to help do right by the people of Haiti.

>>All right.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, Nick Papantonis, reporter for WFTV, Channel 9.

Thanks for being in, Nick.

Good to see you.

Curtis McCloud, investigative reporter, Spectrum News 13 to see you again, Curtis.

And Joe Mario Pedersen, reporter for 90.7 WMFE News.

Thank you all for being here on a really busy day.

Nick, Congressman Frost says he's hoping to hold a community town hall on the crisis.

What are the main concerns that you've been hearing from members of the Haitian-American community here?

>>The concerns are that the United States and the state of Florida aren't doing enough to help the community.

We have a significant population here.

Tens of thousands of people.

This is making it a hotspot for people that want to come over and find safety to be able to find it.

And so their concerns are that we are spending too much time turning away Haitians or trying to find a way to keep ourselves walled off, if you will, rather than welcoming them in and trying to help them find resources, because they're framing this as more of a life and death situation.

Not only for the people that are on the island, but also people that are here right now that have interests on the island.

>>Joe Mario, you covered Congressman Frost's gathering this week with Haitian community leaders that we saw at the top of the show.

What sense did you get from the people there and what they want to see?

>>Yeah, overall, I think the sense that I was picking up on was really this call for Floridians to open up their hearts during this time, right?

The thing I think we kept hearing over and over again, I know you were there.

I know you probably heard this as well, was this reminder that, as Nick pointed out, there are so many -- the Haitian community in central Florida is so big.

And this reminder that, you know, we employ in large numbers the hospitality economy, the tourism economy.

>>And the unions were represented there.

>>Yes, very much so.

So there was this idea of like, “hey, we helped build.

We helped build up this home.

Please help us save ours.

You know, help us save our family members.

Help us send supplies.

Help us send money safely.

” So just this overall sense of please show some humanity at this time.

>>And it was interesting.

One of the concerns that I heard was that many of the weapons being used in the violence in Haiti are coming from the United States and particularly from Florida.

Curtis, Spectrum News 13 has been covering Florida's evacuation flights from Haiti to Sanford as distinct from the U.S. effort to get people out.

How were those flights working and what can arrivals expect when they touch down in Florida?

>>You know, they do get a number of support and an immense amount of support from people on the ground here.

And you see you see a lot of people with a lot of activity at the Sanford Airport.

I actually live by the Sanford Airport and have seen a lot of activity out there.

And I know for a fact that a lot of those people coming in, simply what they've been doing is, of course, reaching out to the State Department and trying to get in touch with them and to get out and say, “hey, I need those resources.

” They have created a portal so that if you need to get out and you need or need to come back home, you can talk to them and they'll make arrangements for you.

Some of those, most of those charter flights to get back into the United States.

And the goal here is to support everyone as much as possible.

>>I mean, even as these evacuation flights take place, it remains hard, right, for citizens to to even get to those flights, given the security situation on the ground.

We'll talk a bit more about that later.

But Republicans like the governor, like Congressman Walsh that we saw, also Congressman Cory Mills, who arranged his own evacuation flight from Haiti.

They've been critical of what they see as like a sluggish federal response.

What are their complaints about how the State Department has handled all of this?

>>I think you summarized are right there with the words ‘sluggish, right?

They don't believe that the State Department is doing enough to get people off the island and also to, for lack of a better term here, secure the border along Florida's eastern and southern seaboard there.

And so they want to see a more aggressive effort, more boats in the water, more manpower being devoted to this, more planes being sent over, if possible.

They just want to see more.

And as we all know, the federal government sometimes it's criticized for having a delayed response to these types of situations.

Well, as you alluded to there, I mean, Joe Mario, Governor DeSantis has added his voice to those of his fellow Republicans who are warning of a potential influx of Haitians by sea to Florida.

The governor addressed that this week.

What steps has the state taken and what are the concerns of immigration hawks on this issue?

>>So, you know, as you pointed out, you know, the concern is this wave, right?

And I think we should note that the Coast Guard has said that, you know, there hasn't been -- >>This hasn't occurred.

It hasnt materialized yet.

>>We've not seen that increase.

We, you know, we have seen, you know, Haitian migrants coming over, but certainly not in a large wave that the governor is concerned about.

I think between October and now, there's been a total of 130 migrants have been picked up, right?

But that has not stopped the governor from taking steps in preparation, you know, sending 250 national and state troopers down to protect the border as it will or, you know, pick up any part of this large wave.

That is a big concern that the governor has also floated the idea of, you know, if this wave ever does come to pass, of putting them on a migrant flight up to Martha's Vineyard, you know, as he did in 2022.

>>Nick, from your reporting, what's been the pushback, though, on the governor's move to sort of step up enforcement in Florida, much like we've seen in Texas?

>>I think the natural response and the expected response is passed, which is rather than send troops to the Florida borders or shores, if you will, it's why don't we help these people set up a temporary camp instead of turning them away.

And just to what you were saying earlier, while we haven't necessarily necessarily seen a wave, central Florida and Florida at large has seen a very steady influx of migrants, as you were saying, individually.

So we've been outside the consulate on different days watching people who have told us, “I got here a month ago through the border of Mexico and other situations like that.

We had the defections at the Special Olympics a couple of years back.

So it's been this rather than a trickle, it has been this rather than a wave, it has been this trickle.

And that has in time added up to more migrants coming into Central Florida.

>>It's interesting.

I mean, as I was researching the segments, I found a News 13 segment about Haitians trying to reach Florida by boat back in 2021.

This isn't a new phenomena.

People have been trying to get here via that route also for some time.

>>They have been, Steve.

And this is something that isnt - this is not new.

We've seen them coming in, of course, by boat, trying to trying to get into the country.

Here in this particular instance, they're running from running from the turmoil that's happening, happening in their country.

>>It's a really difficult time.

One of the other problems that we've heard from aid groups here in Florida is that it's becoming increasingly difficult to get assistance to the country there in the Caribbean.

You can find a link to the Florida Division of Emergency Management site for requesting evacuation from Haiti on our website, along with a link to the letter from Senators Rubio and Scott to the White House.

It's all at WUCF.org/NewsNight.

Okay, next tonight, we wanted to get some background into the turmoil in Haiti.

I talked with Jacqueline Charles, who covers Haiti and the Caribbean for the Miami Herald, and we started by discussing how gangs essentially came to be running the country, forcing out Prime Minister Henry.

>>Gangs are not a new phenomenon in Haiti.

I mean, this is a country that is just a couple of decades out of a dictatorship that basically used a secret police force henchmen to stay in power.

But what we have seen in the last several years is gangs or armed groups, as we're now starting to call them, have become more entrenched.

And Id like to take this back to the 2010 earthquake, because on the eve of the 12th of January 2010, the country was on an upswing and then you get hit with this disaster.

We started to hear more and more about corruption in the Haitian national police force.

You know, we started to to to hear about, you know, different armed groups basically replacing the state or taking control.

So I take you to more recent in terms of the presidency of Jovenel Mo ïse.

You know, he was in power for four years by the time he was assassinated in 2021.

He had not held an election at all.

And during the time that he was in office, we started to see the rise of these groups.

And then the president is killed and there is a vacuum.

There is, in fact, a three-way power struggle.

And so Henry emerges from this.

But at the same time, you are in a constitutional crisis.

And when you put all of that together, you know, the state becomes absent.

It's broke, it's not there.

And then you have these groups that are stepping in.

>>What does the prime minister's pledge to step down mean for the country?

>>Well, we have to put that, quote unquote, pledge into context.

It was you know, it was under pressure from the United States and the Caribbean community.

At the Miami Herald, we reported this, you know that when he was not allowed to land in the Dominican Republic, after having been in Kenya trying to firm up the final agreement for the deployment of a multinational security support mission, he couldn't get back in the country.

And Haitians, regardless of how they feel about this prime minister, they are troubled by that.

The timing, because it's at a time when the gangs were demanding his resignation and whether or not by doing that and putting that pressure, are you not feeding into them and giving them a sort of power that they either didn't have or didn't think that they have?

>>Some in Congress are pushing for the Biden administration to allow Haitians to the United States to escape the violence.

But others are demanding the White House toughen up immigration enforcement to prevent a large influx.

Do you think an increase in people, people seeking shelter is likely?

U.S. policy toward Haiti often has focus on a migration crisis, right?

And what we saw last year with the Biden administration is that they came out with a program, this humanitarian parole program, a two-year program for nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

So that sort of released a little bit of the valve because the U.S. Embassy really has not been functional in terms of, you know, people being able to get visas or things.

So I think the administration has been betting on that, that we're not going to see some huge migration in terms of people getting on boats.

The other reality, though, is that right now, the the gangs control the roads.

But if the gangs decide that they can make money by reopening those roads, you know, imagine 360,000 people, according to the U.N., are today displaced, internally displaced in that country.

They've been forced out of their homes, out of their communities by gangs.

And so, you know, there is a real chance that you can have people sort of leaving.

So what we are hearing from people is that, “I just need a break.

I need to be able to sleep at night and not worry about the fact that some armed bandit or bandits are going to come into my house, either rape me, kill me, or just wipe me clean.

” >>Jacqueline Charles from the Miami Herald.

Meantime, we want to hear from you.

Do you share the concerns of some lawmakers over a potential influx of people from Haiti seeking refuge in Florida?

Or do you think the US should be doing more to offer shelter to those trying to flee?

You can find us on social media.

We're at WUCF TV, on YouTube, Facebook, X and also on Instagram.

Okay.

Finally tonight, the legal issues surrounding Orlando Commissioner Regina Hill.

On Thursday morning, the commissioner was arrested by Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents on charges related to fraud and elder exploitation.

Nick and the team at WFTV Channel 9 first reported the FDLE investigation into Hill.

Looking at court documents, the commissioner is accused of obtaining a power of attorney over a 96-year-old constituent and then using that power to buy a house, spend down the woman's savings and run up thousands in debt.

Hill also faces a civil case.

A judge recently issued an injunction requiring her to stay away from the 96-year-old.

A hearing in that case is set for April 5th.

Nick talked to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, last week for WFTV, about what might happen next on the city council.

>>Have you had any conversations with the commissioner since you found out about stepping down?

>>I have not.

>>Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is one of the many area leaders now taking stock of the bombshell reports which accused Hill of living on the 96-year-old victim's properties without her consent and spending more than $100,000 of her money on perfume, IV treatments and a facelift.

While Hill has so far not stepped down, our sources say several possible successors have already been putting out feelers.

Any kind of conversations behind the scenes about preparing for a possible special election?

>>Well, we we know what we have to do.

If a commissioner is incapacitated or otherwise.

>>We should note we are recording the show on Thursday morning so things can change by airtime, especially in stories like this.

Okay, so what do we know?

Just as we were starting the record here, we did get breaking news that Regina Hill had been arrested.

What more do we know, Nick?

First to you.

>>At this point in time, we know that she's facing multiple charges, including mortgage fraud, exploitation, things that if you look through the affidavit that were pretty clearly what FDLE was looking at.

And so I've spoken to attorneys about those charges kind of in detail.

And they are -- they're not minor charges here.

They are serious.

They carry -- they can carry some serious prison time.

FDLE, as of this recording, has not gone into detail about the arrest that they have made.

We'll be finding that out shortly.

But we do know that it's this is going to be a process that's going to play out for some time now unless a plea deal is reached quickly.

>>You and the team at Channel 9 broke this story.

You've also been covering it as well, Curtis.

It appears that these are pretty serious accusations against the commissioner.

>>They are.

And they involve a 96-year old-resident who lives in the Parramore community that Commissioner Hill knows very well and, you know, very familiar with this.

I remember when she met this woman years ago and reached out and said, “we need to help this woman.

” And now we are seeing, based off of the FDLE investigation, that there seems to be more there.

And again, as Nick said, these are very serious charges.

A lot of people, some stunned by this, a commissioner who has been championed with leading a lot of efforts in District 5.

When you talk about spearheading it down the road here, but still very early on with everything that's happening with this.

But we cannot underscore enough that this is very serious that that we're seeing coming down the pipeline here.

>>What have we heard from the commissioner and her attorneys?

The Sentinel wrote on Wednesday that she's pushing back on with her own filing.

What have we heard so far from the commissioner and those that represent her?

>>I've had a couple of conversations with her and nothing in detail.

Very, very short.

All questions are these are there false allegations or please refer to all comments to my attorney.

I, personally, haven't been able to get in touch with her attorneys, but they did file a response in civil court earlier this week saying that Regina essentially wasn't the problem, the commissioner wasn't the problem.

This woman is vulnerable and they were accusing her current team and her current power of attorney, of taking advantage of her, at least in that case.

>>Curtis, has there been reaction in the commissioner's district?

Obviously, Regina Hill has been a very important figure in West Orlando for many years.

That's an area that you cover.

>>Yeah, no.

And I think that a lot of people there I mean, we know that she has been -- she's had legal troubles in the past.

And while albeit this is a very different situation, a lot of them, of course, very surprised by this because given the nature of these allegations and now they're trying to see what is going to happen.

Everybody is looking forward to the next.

What is next?

I did have the opportunity to speak with Commissioner Hill late last night before all of this, and she did give me a little.

>>On Wednesday night.

>> On Wednesday night.

Let me I just want to read a little bit of this, if I may.

She did give me this statement that says “It's unfortunate that I have been thrust into these circumstances with these allegations.

Unfortunate not just for me, but for the alleged victim whom I've loved and cared for like my own family.

I trust in God above all things, and I trust in the process.

After ten years of service for the city of Orlando, I've illustrated my love and compassion for my constituents, my city and my family.

I know the truth.

I know I'm entitled to due process in which I trust, and I await my day in court to prove my innocence.

” >>Well, let's talk a bit more about how this might play out going forward, Nick.

You obviously talk to the mayor.

We just saw that.

I mean, what are your sources saying about how this might play out on the city council?

I understand also the governor addressed this issue on Wednesday.

>>Yeah so the next step, logically, is that the governor is likely to suspend Commissioner Hill if she does not step down.

We asked him about this.

He said that if an indictment came in, that was that what he needed, that that would be coming.

So we're going to be waiting on that.

Again, this is as of Thursday morning.

If she does not step down, you can expect the next city council will be quite an interesting one.

>>Definitely.

>> If she's still sitting there.

But what's likely to play out happens, there will wind up being a special election for that seat to finish out the term.

And we know that some possible candidates are already starting to organize their campaign.

>>And I was going to say the same thing.

That's what I was on the phone talking, talking to sources last night, names being thrown out already.

I won't speculate and throw those out there, obviously.

But already in District 5, an area that gets a lot of resources from not just the state, but federally.

A lot of programing going into that community.

So this is a pretty big deal here.

Catalyst for sure, for District 5.

>>Yeah, for sure.

Joe Mario, your colleague Joe Burns, who covers aging at WMFE, is covering this story, as well.

Presumably, there are real issues, in general, around the exploitation of elderly people.

>>Yeah, that is a that's a topic that we talk about a lot in the newsroom.

And I think one of the reasons why it comes up so much is it's a huge problem, but we don't really know how huge it is because it is chronically underreported just by very nature of of the crime itself, right?

That there's a lot of shame and embarrassment that is surrounded by this crime, right?

But I mean, it's such a problem that there's even a day of awareness for it, right?

June 15th is Elderly Abuse Awareness Day, in which we are trying to just make as many people aware of scam tactics as possible, make them aware of, you know, resources that they have available to them, right?

But like to really, like sell like how big this is and like how much we we don't know about it is there are estimates as far as daily scams go of people being affected, right?

It's either somewhere between 1 in 10 and 1 in 50.

So again, we know it's a huge problem, but we don't have, yeah, a grip exactly on how big it is.

>>I mean, you cover health issues, right?

I mean, when elderly people become less able to look after their own affairs, and I'm sure many of us in our own families experience things like this.

I mean, does that make them more vulnerable to exploitation?

I mean, particularly in situations where there's a power of attorney which affords a lot of power to somebody over somebody else's financial affairs.

>>Right.

No, it certainly does, right?

And from what we've seen, you know, there are people, of course, who take advantage of these folks either claiming to be a loved one or in some cases, it is the loved one, right?

We learned from the FBI, that in in 2022, there were over 88,000 complaints made by those over the age of 60 in which they reported some sort of monetary loss.

The total from that year was over $3 billion.

So that number in and of itself is huge, right?

But what's more important is comparing that with 2021, it's an 84% increase.

So this is a growing problem and in a hugely compounding way.

>>Just finally, one of the next legal steps here, there's a hearing in the on the civil side of this, right?

Next Friday.

>>There's a hearing on the civil side that's going to decide the injunction or further explore the injunction that the judge granted on an emergency basis, just keeping the commissioner away from the victim.

One of the things that can now be up in the air, though, is that with this indictment and with this arrest, Commissioner Hill is likely going to be told to stay away from the victim as it is.

So that might have an impact on the civil case.

So we're going to watch and see what plays out in the court filings ahead of that hearing.

>>While I'm sure you guys will be across it all the way and we really appreciate your time.

We'll let you get back to covering it.

But that is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Nick Papantonis, Curtis McLeod and Joe Mario Pedersen.

Thank you guys so much for coming in.

Really appreciate your time.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30, here on WUCF.

From all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.

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