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Progress: Growing Diversity

Haitian Community

In 1986, when the dictatorship of Jean Claude Duvalier ended, a large wave of Haitian immigrants came to Florida; in the 1990s another mass migration took place. Many of the new arrivals settled in Delray Beach, Boca Raton, and Boynton Beach. The 2000 Census reported about 6,300 Haitians in Delray Beach, but some officials believe the actual number is closer to 10,000, the largest Haitian population in the United States. Many of the immigrants came from agricultural backgrounds and found work on the farms of Palm Beach County; others own businesses in downtown Delray Beach.