As armed gangs continue to sow chaos in Haiti, the United States is looking to double the size of the foreign forces deployed in the fight, with possibly another country, rather than Kenya, taking the lead.

Speaking at an Organization of American States meeting on Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Kimberly J. Penland told foreign leaders that the U.S. is drafting a resolution to present to the United Nations Security Council to “properly resource” Haiti’s fight to reduce gang territorial control. The proposal, which endorses a proposal by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to provide logistical and operation support using peacekeeping money, would also come with other changes if adopted.

“Should the U.N. Security Council pursue this model, then we will also seek robust regional participation to provide strategic leadership of the force,” Penland said, declining to go into details, which were later shared with the Miami Herald by a source privy to the U.S.’s thinking at the U.N.

Penland prefaced her comments by thanking Kenya “for its dedication, leadership and support for the last year” and answering the call to come to Haiti’s rescue “at a critical moment, demonstrating enormous compassion and courage, putting its people in harm’s way while thousands of miles away from home and preventing a complete collapse of the Haitian state.”

Kenya’s long-awaited deployment of nearly 1,000 police officers to Port-au-Prince began in June 2024 after months of delays following court cases in Nairobi and Republican opposition in Congress. Since, then the mission has continued to face challenges from a lack of equipment to its inability to increase its ranks.

The revelation of the plans by the U.S. and its co-author, Panama, which include rebranding the mission and re-envisioning its operations, came during a presentation by OAS Secretary-General Albert Ramdin on a three-year, $2.6 billion road map for Haiti. Presenting the plan to foreign ministers representing the group of 35 Latin American and Caribbean countries as well as a handful of observer nations, Ramdin said the plan reflects the lack of coordination in helping Haiti tackle its crisis.

“It is not meant to be telling others what to do, but it’s based on a logical framework,” Ramdin said of the proposal, which is similar to what the U.S. and the U.N. sought to do after the country’s 2010 earthquake, bringing all parties together under the umbrella of an Inter-Haiti Recovery Commission. “No single actor or donor can solve the crisis alone; it will require all of us to work together based on our specific capabilities and commitment, which we can bring to the table.”

Revised from an earlier, much-criticized $1.4 billion version that initially had most of the money – $900 million – going to humanitarian response as opposed to the gang fight, the new proposal calls for a $1.33 billion investment in efforts to rebuild the Haiti National Police, reform the justice system and dismantle gangs’ transnational criminal networks.

“It’s over a period of 34 to 36 months,” Ramdin said. “It doesn’t mean we expect everything to be resolved in that period. But we need to put a certain time frame on this process. It could take longer, but we hope that after 36 months we could have a situation where security is reasonably under control.”

While Ramdin found a receptive audience on Wednesday, the challenge facing the OAS was clear. Speaker after speaker reminded the room that the organization doesn’t command a military force and should not step on Haiti’s sovereignty.

The caution comes as the OAS finds itself in Washington’s crosshairs. Since coming into office, the Trump administration has been withdrawing its support from multilateral organizations, and the OAS, which relies heavily on funding from the U.S., may soon find itself among those on the list.

In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, testifying before Congress, suggested that the OAS could lead a military intervention in Haiti and then challenged the group to play a greater role. In June, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, in a speech before the OAS General Assembly in Antigua and Barbuda, criticized the group for failing to “provide a force” to stabilize Haiti and questioned its usefulness amid crises in Haiti and Venezuela.

“If the OAS is unwilling or unable to play a constructive role in Haiti, then we must seriously ask ourselves why the OAS exists,” Landau said.

Before the Antigua gathering ended, the General Assembly adopted a resolution to propose concrete solutions to resolve the crisis in Haiti and strengthen international participation.

Ramdin insisted Wednesday that his revised road map is a work in progress. He welcomed input from member countries including Haiti, whose alternative representative, Jean Josue Pierre, insisted that “the road map has to be thought out in terms of its budget” and underscored that it must reflect Haitian priorities.

Pierre then quoted from a recent speech by Transitional Presidential Council, Laurent Saint-Cyr, as he was being sworn in earlier this month. Security, he said, is the one thing 12 million Haitians are all waiting on.

“Without it all the rest will crumble, constitutional, economic rebuilding, elections,” Pierre said.

Penland, the U.S. representative, echoed the call for security to be prioritized, telling Ramdin the U.S. welcomes “the urgency with which this road map was developed.

“The question before us is how the OAS, member states and observers, alongside the Haitian government, will contribute to restoring a minimal level of security in the face of these threats Haiti faces from terrorists, organized criminals, insurgents and gangs,” she said.

Regaining territorial control and securing key travel corridors are essential prerequisites for elections, she said, as well as for the provision of humanitarian assistance.

“The next international force must be resourced to hold territory, secure infrastructure and complement the Haitian national police,” Penland said. “In parallel, a comprehensive approach is required to disrupt getting financing, arms trafficking and other illicit flows, fueling and stability.”

On Tuesday, Rubio spoke to Kenya President William Ruto and commended the African nation’s continued leadership and ongoing efforts to restore peace and security in Haiti, a statement from the State Department said. A State Department spokesperson told the Herald that the U.S. has so far allocated over $835 million in financial and in-kind support for the mission, including $150 million in foreign assistance for logistics support and equipment, $60 million worth of equipment and services and up to $625 million from the Defense Department.

In comparison, a U.N. Trust Fund dedicated to raising money for the current Kenya-led mission has so far raised only $112.5 million. While Canada is the largest donor to the fund, no Latin American or Caribbean country has contributed. Caribbean nations, meanwhile, have pulled back their commitments or put them on hold. Jamaica, gearing up for national elections next month, still has only about two dozen people in Port-au-Prince, while both The Bahamas and Belize have reduced their small numbers. Barbados earlier this year said it would not be sending troops.

Even if the U.S. manages to get the U.N. Security Council to endorse a new mandate for a multinational security support force in Haiti, the administration will find itself hard pressed to reach its goal of doubling the number of personnel from 2,500, which has yet to be achieved, to 5,000.

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