Author Mitch Albom and seven other Americans were airlifted out of Haiti on Monday, as the U.S. government orders all nonessential citizens in the country to leave due to rampant street violence and political unrest.
Albom said Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) assisted himself, his wife and eight volunteers to leave Albom’s Have Faith Haiti orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Seven in the group were Americans, with one person from Canada and another from France.
“I am back on American soil. Thank you to all have supported us during this difficult week. My wife and I are safe tonight,” Albom said Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.
“Many Americans, Canadians, and others who are still stuck are not. The people of Haiti are not,” he continued. “I hope that our attention can turn to them and how we can help restore peace and safety to a beautiful country and its people, who deserve so much better.”
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) told The Washington Post that Mills helped organize the helicopter flights, and flew to Haiti himself after a constituent alerted her of Albom and other volunteers at the orphanage.
Mills used the mission to criticize President Biden’s foreign policy. The congressman made similar efforts to get Americans out of Afghanistan in 2021 and Israel in October.
“This recent mission reiterates a disturbing reality that under President Biden’s leadership American lives are continually jeopardized,” Mills said on X. “I have conducted rescue/ evacs of Americans multiple times when Joe Biden has deserted them. There’s a clear pattern of abandonment!”
Haiti has struggled with gang violence for months, with the situation quickly deteriorating this month. The country’s prime minister resigned Tuesday, hailing a U.S.-backed plan for a transitional government that has been opposed by Haitian political leaders.
A group of U.S. Marines were deployed to Port-au-Prince on Wednesday to protect the U.S. Embassy, which was mostly evacuated of nonessential personnel last year.