The special envoy to Haiti stepped down on Thursday — blasting the Biden administration’s “inhumane” expulsions of Haitians from Del Rio, Texas.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, first reported by PBS, Daniel Foote said he was resigning immediately “with deep disappointment and apologies to those seeking crucial changes.”
“I will not be associated with the United States inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs to daily life,” he wrote.
Foote was appointed to the post in July after the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse, months before the nearly 14,000 Haitian migrants amassed at the border near Del Rio and overwhelmed Border Patrol officials.
“Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my policy recommendations have been ignored and dismissed, when not edited to project a narrative different from my own,” Foote continued.
US Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. AP Photo/Felix MarquezThe outgoing special envoy said people in Haiti remain “mired in poverty, hostage to the terror, kidnappings, robberies and massacres of armed gangs and suffering under a corrupt government with gang alliances.”
He said the struggling country “simply cannot support the forced infusion of thousands of returned migrants lacking food, shelter, and money without additional, avoidable human tragedy.”
Instead, Foote insisted Haiti needs help to restore the government’s ability to beat back the gangs and reimpose order.
Foote was only just appointed to the post in July after the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse. Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesHe also called out the US and other countries publicly supporting Prime Minister Ariel Henry of Haiti.
“The hubris that makes us believe we should pick the winner — again — is impressive,” he wrote, adding that the “cycle of political interventions” in the Caribbean country has resulted in catastrophe.
The Haitians began to arrive at the camp in Del Rio last week but their numbers quickly swelled into the thousands.
Immigrants sit and lie under the international bridge at a migrant camp on the U.S.-Mexico border. Getty ImagesThe Biden administration began deportation flights on Sunday to return them to Haiti and has released more into the US.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that 12 deportation flights since Sunday have returned 1,401 Haitians.
Another 3,206 have been removed from the Del Rio camp to the custody of Customs and Border Protection or moved to other sections of the border where they will either be expelled under Title 42 coronavirus pandemic guidelines or be placed into removal proceedings where they may be released into the US with an notice to appear at an immigration office within 60 days.
The Department of Homeland Security said “several thousand” migrants have also crossed the border back into Mexico.
Fewer than 5,000 migrants remain at the encampment, Psaki said.
Those still at the camp are living in horrific conditions in an encampment described as “‘Naked and Afraid,’ the southern border edition.”
John Rourke, an Army veteran who traveled to Del Rio to pick up trash at the encampment with other vets, said their mission turned into something else entirely.
“We went from picking up trash to pulling people from the river,” Rourke said on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“I saw people washing babies in the Rio Grande. I saw babies breastfeeding babies, sleeping in dirt, 107 degrees outside, red ants everywhere, real coyotes with four legs walking around,” he said.
Migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. wade through the Rio Grande river from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico toward Del Rio, Texas. Daniel Becerril/REUTERS“It was like ’Naked and Afraid,’ the southern border edition, out there. People are literally knocking down trees and setting up lean-tos teepees and sleeping under those. They come and go back and forth from Mexico just as me or you walk across the street. There’s nobody there to stop them,” he told Carlson.
Rourke said he talked to many of the migrants who were attempting to get to South Florida.
Many were not vaccinated, he said.
“I asked them about COVID-19. I was asking them about whether or not they had been vaccinated, and if there was a vaccine available would you take it? Emphatically they said, ‘no,’ they would not take it. A lot of them cited religious beliefs for the reason why they wouldn’t take it,” he said.
Overwhelmed Border Patrol officials urged management beginning on June 1 to send agents into the field to begin processing migrants after they cross the Rio Grande river. Richard Pierrin/EPARourke also said the Haitians told him that they believed they should try to enter the US now because of the Biden administration.
“They told me to my face the reason why [they’re] here is because Joe Biden is allowing them to come. ‘He’s a very humble man, he has a big heart, he loves the Haitian people, and we love him.’ It was almost like the biggest Biden rally I’ve ever been to. Everybody there speaking about Joe Biden. They love him,” Rourke said.
Meanwhile, a report said Border Patrol agents in Texas where the migrants are amassed began pleading with their bosses to send additional resources to deal with the influx as far back as June, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.
The agents, according to CNN, were scrambling to deal with the steady increase in migrants at the border even before the Haitians arrived.
Overwhelmed Border Patrol officials urged management beginning on June 1 to send agents into the field to begin processing migrants after they cross the Rio Grande river instead of having them wait in a group until space opens up in a station, Jon Anfinsen, the National Border Patrol Council local president in Del Rio, told CNN.
“This way, we can at least get part of the process finished before they even get to the station instead of wasting that time,” Anfinsen said.
The Haitians began to arrive at the camp in Del Rio last week but their numbers quickly swelled into the thousands. Julio Cortez/APHe said the agents contacted management again on June 3 and repeated their request for help.
”This is being explored, several other platforms are being considered which are more efficient,” the union received an email on June 17 in response.
There were more than 200,000 encounters with illegal immigrants in August – the second straight month that the number exceeded 200,000.
The 208,887 encounters last month marked a 317 percent increase over August 2020.






