What Happened
The U.S. Pentagon is sending a team of officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to assess the situation in Haiti following the recent assassination of the Caribbean country’s president, the Miami Herald reported July 11. The team will then brief U.S. President Joe Biden on how best to assist Haiti going forward.

Why It Matters
The White House is incentivized to assist Haiti, as any additional instability in the country would risk prompting more Haitians to migrate to the United States. There’s a chance the Biden administration may be willing to send troops and aid to secure the country after the team of U.S. security and law enforcement officials make its initial assessment. The deployment of U.S. troops would likely result in a temporary increase in violence in Haiti, as well-established armed gangs attempt to secure their territory. However, after initial flashpoints, the security situation may improve marginally as gangs would no longer be able to pay off security officials.

Background
On July 7, Haitien President Jovenel Moise was fatally shot in his private residence in the capital city of Port au Prince. A senior Biden official quickly confirmed that there were no current plans to provide U.S. military assistance to Haiti after the country’s acting interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph on July 9 requested U.S. aid in the form of troops in a bid to “protect key infrastructure.”