US envoy for Haiti resigns citing 'inhumane' deportations

The US special envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, resigned from his position on Thursday over his country's treatment of Haitian refugees.

The move came just two months after his appointment.

"I will not be associated with the United States' inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti," Foote wrote in his resignation letter to US secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The State Department said Foote's resignation was "unfortunate" and that he had "mischaracterized circumstances."

The Biden administration has come under fire from human rights organizations in recent days, following the deportation of thousands of Haitian migrants. 

What the envoy said about US deportations of Haitian migrants

Foote said Haiti, a country plagued by corruption, gang violence and poverty, could not deal with forced returns on this scale.

The Haitian population "simply cannot support the forced infusion of thousands of returned migrants lacking food, shelter, and money without additional, avoidable human tragedy," he said.

As many as 14,000 Haitians were at an encampment in Del Rio, on the Texas border with Mexico, according to US officials. Numbers at the camp have almost halved following expulsions and people being taken into custody.

"Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my recommendations have been ignored and dismissed," Foote said.

The criticism of the White House over the treatment of Haitians

Foote's abrupt departure comes amid mounting criticisms over the deportations.

The White House is currently facing sharp local and international condemnation.

In the US, Democrats and pro-immigration groups have said that efforts to expel thousands of Haitians without giving them a chance to seek asylum violates American principles.

On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was "deeply concerned" by images of expulsions and warned that the US appeared to not be individually assessing asylum claims of people it was deporting.

Sending migrants to Guantanamo has 'never' been on the agenda, says Psaki

Later on Thursday, the White House said it had no plans to send the Haitian migrants at the border to Guantanamo.

News reports emerged Wednesday suggesting the Department of Homeland Security had issued a new contract to operate a migrant facility at the camp established by former US President George W. Bush's administration in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

But White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed those reports, saying: "There's never been a plan to do that. I think there was some confusion related to a migrant Operation Center, which has been used for decades to process migrants interdicted at sea for third-country resettlement."

jsi, go/rt (AFP, Reuters, AP)