US special envoy 'Resigns' in protest against US actions on Haitian refugees

Haiti: The US special envoy to Haiti resigns in protest in a letter that blasted the Biden administration for deporting numbers of migrants to the crisis-stricken Caribbean nation from a border camp Mexican-American in recent days.

Daniel Foote, a career diplomat appointed to his post in July, said the "collapsed state" was unable to support the injection of returning migrants. "I will not be associated with the inhumane and counterproductive United States choice to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants," Foote stated in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that circulated publicly Thursday.

Haiti, the most poverty-stricken nation in the Western Hemisphere, has been hit by a presidential assassination, gang violence, and a significant earthquake in recent weeks.

The United States has returned more than 1,400 migrants from Camp Del Rio, Texas, to Haiti, including families, and has displaced more than 3,200 people for treatment out of the camp, Department of Defense officials said Thursday. Homeland Security (DHS). At its peak on September 18, there were some 15,000 people in the camp, about two-thirds of those families, officials said.

Many migrants say they hope to stay in the United States and seek asylum. But an eviction policy in place since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic means most may not have that opportunity.

Some are boarded on return flights to Haiti while others are released in the United States to pursue their immigration cases in court.

At least four deportation flights to Haiti were scheduled for Thursday, according to a flight tracking website and activists tracking deportation flights.

Foote tendered his resignation to Blinken on Wednesday, a State Department spokesperson said, adding that Washington was determined to ensure the long-term well-being of Haiti, as well as to offer immediate assistance to migrants from return.

State Department spokesman Ned Price dismissed Foote's criticisms, saying that "instead of participating in a solutions-oriented political process, Special Envoy Foote both resigned and misrepresented the circumstances of his resignation ".

"He did not take the opportunity to voice his concerns about migration during his tenure and instead chose to step down," Price said.

Foote's decision has been interpreted and greeted by advocacy groups as a harsh criticism of the administration's immigration strategy.

"A big, bold move. And a big problem," said William O'Neill, a lawyer specializing in humanitarian law, human rights and refugee law. "We will miss him."

Biden's handling of the border situation, where a record number of detainees have been arrested this year, has led to growing disillusionment from migration advocates who hoped for an end to the disincentives put in place by his predecessor Donald Trump.

Julian Castro, a former housing secretary, wrote in a tweet that "it is disconcerting and disappointing that President Biden has not denounced the mistreatment and continued deportation of Haitian asylum seekers."

Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, said on a Twitter video that Haitians should be granted asylum.

"If you come from a country where the president was assassinated in the past 60 days, followed by an earthquake, followed by a hurricane, I don't know how you can claim more asylum than that ", did he declare.

While some Democrats criticized Biden for being too harsh, many Republicans said Biden's efforts to introduce a more humanitarian approach, including the rescinding of some Trump measures, had encouraged illegal immigration.