WATCH LIVE: UN Ambassador Mike Waltz testifies before House Foreign Affairs Committee

By — Dánica Coto, Associated Press Dánica Coto, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-un-ambassador-mike-waltz-testifies-before-house-foreign-affairs-committee Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH LIVE: UN Ambassador Mike Waltz testifies before House Foreign Affairs Committee Politics Jul 22, 2026 9:59 AM EDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. envoy to the United Nations said Monday that the U.S. government soon will move to stop violent gangs in Haiti from making money off social media posts. UN Ambassador Mike Waltz will testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on "United Nations Accountability and Reform" at 10 a.m. EDT. Watch live in our video player above. Gang leaders in the troubled Caribbean country are prolific users of social media and have celebrated killings, issued threats and posted musings on various sites. Younger gang members also post music videos and wave cash they've earned in an effort to recruit children in the impoverished nation. Mike Waltz, who recently visited Haiti, called the practice "incredibly disturbing" and warned the U.S. would "shut that down" in the near future. He didn't provide further details while speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York. He spoke as the U.S. prepares this week to strip the temporary protected status of some 350,000 Haitians who live in the United States, exposing them to deportation, a move largely criticized by lawyers and human rights experts. Efforts to crack down on the gangs' use of social media are not new. In 2023, YouTube banned Johnson André, considered Haiti's most powerful gang leader and also known as Izo, following heavy criticism after he received an award for surpassing more than 100,000 subscribers. The U.S. envoy also called on countries with aircraft capacity to help with the deployment of foreign troops joining the latest U.N.-backed mission in Haiti to fight gangs, including Sri Lanka and Ivory Coast. He said sea lifts take too long and that Haitians need help now. Gang violence surges as Haitians in U.S. brace for deportation Gang violence has displaced a record almost 1.5 million people across Haiti, where more than half of the country's nearly 12 million inhabitants need humanitarian aid. More than 2,300 people have been killed and more than 1,100 injured since January, according to the U.N. Earlier this year, clashes in the Cite Soleil slum in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, led to 542 killings and 355 injuries. In addition, at least 176 women and girls were raped, the U.N. found. Waltz shared how gangs recently surrounded an armored vehicle that got stuck in a ditch and lit a fire underneath, forcing Haitian police officers to flee. "They were flayed alive on the streets," Waltz said, adding that their bodies were pinned to the side of the vehicle to send a message. "I want everyone to understand the fight ahead," he added