Gov. McKee at New Bridges for Haitian Success: 'We stand with the Haitian community'

PROVIDENCE — Gov. Dan McKee joined New Bridges for Haitian Success founder Bernard Georges and other leaders on Saturday to seek support for Haitians who live in Rhode Island or are on their way here.

The situation at the Del Rio, Texas, border with Mexico, where thousands of Haitian migrants gathered recently in hopes of entering the U.S., was uppermost in mind.

“The issues that are happening on the border right now are just not right,” said McKee. “And I think that when something's wrong, we stand up and say it's wrong.”

He referred to widely publicized reports and images of federal agents on horseback rounding up Haitians — dispatches that outraged many and drew comparisons to historical mistreatment of African Americans and Indigenous peoples, including by Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Friday described the agents’ actions as “horrible” and profoundly disturbing.