Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall met Thursday with law enforcement officials in Talladega County to talk about their experience with the program that has brought Haitian immigrants to the area.
The program is the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan Parole Program, or CHNV program, which requires that participants are vetted and that they have a sponsor while they are in the U.S. Haitians began fleeing their nation earlier this year following unrest on the Caribbean island after its government was toppled by gang warfare.
Multiple states, including Alabama, are challenging the program that was designed for bringing people in for unique circumstances like getting medical treatment they couldn’t get in their own countries.
Under the Biden Administration, the program has been expanded to “blanketly allowing 30,000 people from four countries including Haiti to come in each month.”
“They’re here with lawful status and able to work,’’ Marshall said, “but it’s very different from the other programs that have brought people into the country.”
“We think the (Biden Administration) is exceeding the authority under the Congressional authorization for the program and that’s being litigated as we speak,’’ he said.
Marshall said he is specifically concerned about whether those sponsors are engaged and active with those who are living in Sylacauga.
City officials estimate there are as many as 60 Haitians in the city. The 2023 Census puts Sylacauga’s total population at a little more than 12,000; about 64% of its residents are white.
Alabama has 2,569 Haitian residents, according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau figures.
“It confirmed what I think we are learning is that sponsorship is fiction, that there is no support for those who are coming in, financially, helping find housing, helping find jobs, providing integration into the community,’’ Marshall said.
The attorney general also wanted to find if law enforcement was seeing any issues with which his office could help.
“We obviously have an interest in human trafficking and to make sure there’s not human trafficking go on and shared our willingness to be able to help if in fact they identified that,’’ he said.
Marshall said he left the meeting comfortable.
“Law enforcement is fully aware of what’s going on the community and otherwise there was no confirmation of any criminal activity that they were aware of,’’ he said.
Marshall said he also wanted to find out if Alabama communities have seen any of the Venezuelan gangs that have been reported in other states, such as Texas and Colorado.
“There was nothing that indicated Sylacauga was seeing that,’’ he said.
Marshall said he doesn’t have a clear number of the migrants in the Sylacauga and said they are very much transient, which again is not the design of the CHNV program.
“Whether or not they are and remain in Talladega County is still a little bit unknown,’’ he said.
He said Marshall County is uniquely impacted, maybe more so than any other Alabama community he’s heard of.
“It is one area in which we are fully aware of additional criminal activity taking place,’’ Marshall said. “We know they’ve charged several, including those with violent crimes.”
Marshall County Sheriff Phil Sims in August said he was unaware of any uptick in crime in the county associated with Haitian immigration.
Robin Lathan, a spokesperson for the city of Albertville, said the same held true there.
”Looking at year (by) year data, to include arrest reports, the nature of incoming emergency calls, and demographic information, there is no evidence to suggest, one, that crime in Albertville has increased, or, two, that it has increased as a result of Haitian immigration,” Lathan said in a statement.
Marshall said he has a two-fold interest in finding out what is happening,
“One is, are there are concerns with law enforcement around multiple issues including human trafficking for which we’d need to be engaged?,’’ he said, “and second is the role of attorney generals in stopping the federal government from overreaching its authority and in this case, it the scope and the use of the parole program, particularly around sponsors and their role in bringing individuals into the country.”
