The State Department gave its departing point-man for Haiti a kick on his way out the door, saying he quit instead of helping solve a border crisis triggered by an influx of migrants from the troubled island.
The pointed statement followed the resignation of Daniel Foote, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti, over what he called “inhumane” treatment of Haitians massed at the southern border.
“This is a challenging moment that requires leadership,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday. “It is unfortunate that, instead of participating in a solutions-oriented policy process, Special Envoy Foote has both resigned and mischaracterized the circumstances of his resignation.”
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Blinken, who has been managing a diplomatic crisis with France while conducting a series of meetings on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, awoke Thursday to friendly fire from his southern flank. Foote, a career foreign service officer appointed in July to “facilitate long-term peace and stability and support efforts to hold free and fair presidential and legislative elections” following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, pulled no punches in his resignation letter.
“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 in control of daily life,” he wrote in the Wednesday letter, which was revealed early Thursday.
That denunciation adds diplomatic fuel to a political fire that has erupted in recent days, as thousands of migrants have converged on the border in Del Rio, Texas. Biden’s administration has moved to deport some of the migrants, drawing sharp criticism from congressional Democrats — and, now, the outgoing State Department special envoy.
“Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my recommendations have been ignored or dismissed, when not edited to project a narrative different from my own,” he wrote.
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Price panned that complaint as sour grapes from an official who overestimates the quality of his own ideas.
“Some of those proposals were determined to be harmful to our commitment to the promotion of democracy in Haiti and were rejected during the policy process,” Price said. “For him to say his proposals were ignored is simply false. … He failed to take advantage of ample opportunity to raise concerns about migration during his tenure and chose to resign instead.”
