The Special Envoy of the United States in Haiti renounced the position, two months after its appointment, when denouncing the deportations of the Joe Biden government of thousands of Haitians who cross the border from Mexico.
“I will not associate with the inhuman and counterproductive decision of the United States to deport thousands of Haitian illegal refugees and migrants to Haiti,” said the Special Envoy of the Department of State, Daniel Foote, in his letter of resignation.
In the text, aimed at the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, Foote described Haiti as a place in which US diplomats “are confined in security facilities due to the hazards that represent the armed bands that control daily life”.
“I am poverty and hostage of terror”, the Haitian population “simply can not bear the forced flow of thousands of migrants returning and lacking food, shelter and money without provoking a new and inevitable human tragedy,” he wrote.
“More refugees will further feed despair and crime.”
The Renunciation of the official happens after the US government began last week to embark on airplanes to Haitian citizens who entered the United States from Mexico to take them back to their country.
The Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, thanked Daniel Fote the work done and added: “This does not mean that we can not have disagreements about the right approach.”
“The level of despair among migrants can only affect everyone strongly, so I really understand the passion that surrounds this matter,” he added.
Soon before, the spokesman for the Department of State, Ned Price, had more directly rejected the accusations of Daniel Foote, which he described as “simply false” according to him.
The envoy “did not take advantage of the opportunity to express” the “concerns about him over migrants during his mandate and, on the other hand, he chose to resign”, lamented Price.
Another official accused him of trying to go beyond his competences in American politics in Haiti.
Haitians are part of a wave of thousands of migrants, for several weeks in Mexican cities of Tapachula (southern border with Guatemala) and Ciudad Acuña (North, Limitrophe with Texas). Haitian migrants arrive mainly from Brazil and Chile, where
They had emigrated after the 2010 earthquake that left some 200,000 dead in Haiti.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has shown “concerned” by the situation of Haitians expelled by the United States at the Frontera with Mexico and has indicated that two of three migrants affected by these decisions are women and minors.
, including newborns.
“Haiti staggers for the triple tragedy of natural disasters, the violence of the bands and the pandemic by Covid-19” has indicated the Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore.
“When children, adolescents and families are returned without adequate protection, they are still more vulnerable to violence, poverty and displacement, factors that prompted them to emigrate in the first place,” she said.
Thus, the Agency has highlighted that the initial evaluations carried out to the migrants that have been transferred to Port-au-Prince and Mexico suggest that “many” of those under ten years of age were born out of Haiti or have lived most of their life outside
from the country.
UNICEF has claimed to avoid “any use of force at borders” and facilitate family unification, as well as “adequately evaluate the protection needs of migrants before making any decision on return.” The best interests of the child must be
Above any other consideration, “he has reviewed Fore.