A senior State Department official confirmed to Breitbart News on Tuesday that, contrary to apocalyptic mainstream media reports of President Donald Trump abandoning efforts to improve the violent situation in Haiti, the State Department has granted foreign spending freeze waivers to allow continued support for the country.
Under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department is currently undergoing a massive review of its spending, ensuring that it is subsidizing programs that align with President Trump’s foreign policy. The review is similar to policies the Trump administration is implementing throughout the federal government as part of efforts to save American taxpayers’ money and ensure that the administration is advancing policies coherent with its worldview. As part of that review, however, Rubio has ensured that programs essential for American interests and regional security would not find themselves abruptly defunded; support for Haiti security operations is on that list of essentials.
The State Department has made public its financial support for Haiti security operations since at least February 5, including waivers to federal funding freezes, yet the Washington Post breathlessly reported this weekend that President Trump was weakening attempts to help Haiti through the unrelated halt of operations by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Post quoted an anonymous “aid worker” who claimed that attempts to streamline USAID were “a gift to the gangs” and omitted mention of Rubio’s waivers for security support. The newspaper also curiously claimed that some Haitians did not support receiving American aid due to concerns of “economic colonialism.”
Other similar reports have complained of the Trump administration ending programs meant to support transgender people in Haiti, which have no clear connection to the ongoing gang war.
The State Department confirmed to Breitbart News on Tuesday that Secretary Rubio approved waivers to funding freezes that allow Washington to continue funding anti-gang efforts. Breitbart News was able to view documentation proving the approval of the waivers.
The waivers apply to International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) funds for the Haitian National Police (HNP) and for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, a U.N.-approved international force on the ground led by Haiti. It also approved peacekeeping efforts.
Specifically, the money covered by the waiver funds “weapons, ammunition, and armored equipment,” “surveillance drones,” and some medical support for police officers, among other goods and services.
The situation around funding in Haiti, a senior State Department official explained to Breitbart News, “makes for a good case of actual good American foreign policy that makes our nation and region safer, stronger, and more prosperous – that’s what waivers should do.”
Haiti has suffered from tremendous poverty and insecurity for years, but plunged into an even more acute state of chaos after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. The country has not had an elected president since then, instead relying for some time on unpopular former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who stepped aside following the establishment of a “transitional council” in April 2024. The first president of that council, Edgard Gardy Leblanc Fils, served from May 2024 to October, vacating the leadership role under a cloud of corruption accusations against members of the council. He has since been replaced by current transitional council President Leslie Voltaire.
Neither Voltaire nor the council wield much power in the country. Highly violent organized crime syndicates took advantage of the power vacuum left by Moïse to dramatically expand their authority, facing little resistance from United Nations humanitarian aid workers and other international actors on the island. The most dangerous of these is the gang coalition Viv Ansanm (“Live Together”), led by former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, the most visible Haitian gang leader, who launched an “insurrection” against what is left of the country’s government last year with a massive, thousands-strong prison break.
The U.N. approved the establishment of a “Multinational Security Support” (MSS) mission in 2023 that took a year to begin operating and currently boasts about 1,000 officers on the ground, most of them from Kenya. The MSS welcomed officers from El Salvador and Guatemala in February and has received critical American support, including support included in the State Department waivers.
As of January, the United Nations estimates that various gangs, including prominently the Viv Ansanm coalition, control 85 percent of Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital. An estimated 1 million people have been displaced by the violence, creating the possibility of an overwhelming migrant wave to neighboring countries.
In the Dominican Republic – the only country to share a land border with Haiti – Secretary Rubio affirmed on February 6 that America was “committed to continue to work with the international mission” to establish security. Speaking alongside President Luis Abinader, who categorically rejected the possibility of accepting a large wave of Haitian migrants, Rubio asserted in no uncertain terms that the Trump administration would play a prominent role in Haiti.
“There’s been some misreporting about the U.S. role in support of them, of the mission there. So let me be clear and so it’s understood,” Rubio told reporters. “Last week, in the middle of last week, I signed a waiver to make sure that our programs there continue. And as of last Friday, they are active and have been working.”
“Beyond the UN fund, I’ve issued a waiver providing for the use of — I think it’s close to $40 million of additional support,” he continued. “And those contracts are out there and they’re working now. They’re providing logistical support both to the mission and to the Haitian National Police. Those are facts.”
Abinader supported Rubio’s confirmation that the Trump administration would play a role in helping Haiti.
“We just heard the policy of the United States with Haiti. So I am pretty confident of this policy that the Secretary of State just mentioned,” Abinader said in response to a question on his response to Trump’s Haiti policy. “So we are pretty confident of what Secretary Rubio said, and if we follow that, we will see a peaceful Haiti in a couple of months.”
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