US special envoy for Haiti resigns in protest against deportations

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Refugees after being deported by the US authorities in Haiti

Photo: Rodrigo Abd / AP

The US special envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, has resigned to protest against what he sees as "inhuman" deportation of Haitian refugees to their homeland.

Several news agencies and US media report this unanimously.

Foote justified his resignation in a letter to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

He did not want to be associated with the "inhuman and counterproductive" US decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, Foote wrote.

In Haiti, the armed gangs make the situation so dangerous that even American officials did not dare to leave their safe quarters.

All US policy in Haiti is flawed, Foote said.

His own suggestions have been dismissed or ignored.

He got the job in July, shortly after the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse.

US officials who wanted to remain anonymous assured the American media that Foote had long been calling for greater control over US Haiti policy.

The Biden government did not consider his demands to be appropriate.

Thousands live under a bridge on the Rio Grande

In Del Rio, Texas, on the border with Mexico, thousands of people have been waiting under a bridge in makeshift tents for days.

Many of them once fled Haiti, most of them years ago, now they are trying to reach the USA by crossing the Rio Grande.

Over the weekend, the US began to fly thousands of asylum seekers to Haiti without giving them the chance to apply for asylum.

This is made possible by the so-called Title 42 rule.

Donald Trump has used it since the beginning of the corona pandemic to largely seal off the US borders - officially to protect the country from the corona virus.

Joe Biden extended the rule, he only excluded unaccompanied minors.

Domestically, therefore, the pressure on the Biden government is growing.

Left Democrats also criticize the harsh intervention of mounted US border guards.

The Republicans accuse Biden against not protecting the border.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and the least developed state on the Americas.

In 2010, the country was also hit by a major earthquake.

Since then, many people have left the country, and another earthquake in August made the situation even worse.

more on the subject

• Migration drama on the Texan border: Unwelcome in AmericaBy René Pfister, Del Rio

• USA begin to deport thousands of Haitians: Back to hopelessnessBy Anna-Sophie Schneider

According to the Haitian authorities, ten deportation pilots have already gone to Haiti.

According to US officials, the fleet is to be increased to seven planes per day.

It would be one of the largest deportation campaigns in the United States in decades.

The pictures of the desperate people on the flights are currently going around the world.

Most recently, several passengers tried to get back into one of the aircraft at Port-au-Prince Airport immediately after their arrival in Haiti.

slü / AP