Trump nominates Austin Holmes as US ambassador to Haiti

President Donald Trump has nominated Austin Holmes, a Florida businessman who has worked on humanitarian and security efforts in Haiti, to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the country.

The White House sent Holmes’ nomination to the Senate on Monday, Sept. 14, according to a list of nominations released by the administration. The position requires Senate confirmation.

Holmes has longstanding ties to Haiti through humanitarian and security work. Earlier this year, he appeared before a Senate appropriations subcommittee during a hearing focused on U.S. security and foreign assistance priorities in Haiti.

“Austin Holmes has a tremendous amount of knowledge about Haiti and is someone I have known for 15, 16 years and has almost exclusively been connected to Haiti,” said Senator Markwayne Mullin during the February hearing.

Holmes said he previously lived in Haiti with his family and has been involved in security operations in the country, including kidnapping recoveries and emergency extractions. During his opening remarks at the hearing, he cited Jeff Frazier as an example, saying his team “successfully recovered” Frazier after 43 days in captivity by gangs in Haiti.

Frazier was kidnapped by gangs in 2023 during a food distribution mission in Haiti.

“The results that we’ve achieved in Haiti [are] driven by an approach that many international efforts have struggled to sustain. Deep cultural fluency, long-term presence and operational leadership rooted in local context,” Holmes said.

“Our teams are largely Haitian and Haitian American with in-country experience, language capability and local relationships that inform every decision we make.”

If confirmed, Holmes would assume the diplomatic post as the United States remains deeply involved in international efforts to address Haiti’s security and political crises.

His nomination is now before the Senate.