Breaking: US special envoy to Haiti resigns over migrant expulsions

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

It's good to see someone who appears to have a properly functioning moral compass in response to Biden's shameful decision.

The Biden administration’s special envoy to Haiti has resigned, protesting “inhumane” large-scale expulsions of Haitian migrants to their homeland wracked by civil strife and natural disaster, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Daniel Foote was appointed to the position only in July, following the assassination of Haiti’s president. Even before the migrant expulsions from the small Texas border town of Del Rio, the career diplomat was known to be deeply frustrated with what he considered a lack of urgency in Washington and a glacial pace on efforts to improve conditions in Haiti.

Foote wrote Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he was stepping down 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. “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.”

https://apnews.com/article/haiti-envoy-resigns-migrants-border-texas-8bdf813465adc48856eea352bd3bd6b5

[Sir Mohamed]

Ugh, immigration definitely continues to be a weak spot for the Biden Admin. His policy of the "middle" is neither popular with progressives nor conservatives.

[Calthrina950]

My father and I were having a conversation about this whole situation the other day, and he raised a point which I think is relevant. Our country is currently accepting Afghan refugees, and we've taken in many thousands of refugees from Cuba and Vietnam in the past. But we won't take in refugees from Haiti or from other black-majority countries. In other words, our refugee policy has been influenced by racial prejudices of the same kind that has influenced much of our domestic policy.

[Indy Texas]

Living in a country that happens to be very poor and suffers from things like earthquakes and hurricanes is regrettable, and we should assist Haiti and its people as we can.

But that is not grounds for asylum. Haitians who wish to emigrate to the US and other countries should do so through the conventional channels.

[lfromnj]

Living in a country that happens to be very poor and suffers from things like earthquakes and hurricanes is regrettable, and we should assist Haiti and its people as we can.

But that is not grounds for asylum. Haitians who wish to emigrate to the US and other countries should do so through the conventional channels.

Reminder many of these so called refugees were already in the relatively safe and stable country of Chile. In fact Chile has a slightly lower homicide rate than the US. These so called refugees are anything but refugees.

It sucks for them they have to go back to Haiti but maybe they shouldn't have made a 5000 mile journey based on some WhatsApp posts without even verifying if said info was true.

[Santander]

My father and I were having a conversation about this whole situation the other day, and he raised a point which I think is relevant. Our country is currently accepting Afghan refugees, and we've taken in many thousands of refugees from Cuba and Vietnam in the past. But we won't take in refugees from Haiti or from other black-majority countries. In other words, our refugee policy has been influenced by racial prejudices of the same kind that has influenced much of our domestic policy.

I am sorry, but this is just not accurate. According to DHS figures, over 50% of refugee arrivals in the US in 2019 were from Africa, with the largest being DR Congo, followed by Eritrea. In past years, Somalia and South Sudan were leading countries.

https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/table14

The US actually discriminates primarily against refugees from Middle Eastern countries, if anything.

[PSOL]

Drug gangs often kidnap Haitian refugees and force them into the drug trade in Latin America, so they are in no way “safe” there. Haiti itself with a collapsing government is not “safe”.

[Ferguson97]

While he has either met or exceeded my expectations in nearly every other category, Biden has been fairly disappointing on immigration thus far.

[Santander]

People just showing up and crossing the Rio Grande by the thousands should not be talked about as if it were an immigration or refugee policy issue. Trump's "travel ban" was an immigration issue, the refugee cap is a refugee issue. This is about the border and regional political stability.

[Ferguson97]

People just showing up and crossing the Rio Grande by the thousands should not be talked about as if it were an immigration or refugee policy issue. Trump's "travel ban" was an immigration issue, the refugee cap is a refugee issue. This is about the border and regional political stability.

But they're literally refugees from Haiti

[Horus]

If Cubans were doing this they'd be welcomed with open arms because communism.

[The Free North]

Its also worth pointing out, and this is something very few people will actually know, but Haiti (from the DR) has just picked up a deadly animal disease called African Swine Fever which has a 95%+ mortality rate and likely killed several hundred million pigs in China the past few years and sent the price of their protein through the roof and caused food panic in the supermarkets.

Introduction into the US would likely result in the mass euthanization of the US herd and cause unthinkable financial consequences.

[Santander]

People just showing up and crossing the Rio Grande by the thousands should not be talked about as if it were an immigration or refugee policy issue. Trump's "travel ban" was an immigration issue, the refugee cap is a refugee issue. This is about the border and regional political stability.

But they're literally refugees from Haiti

They are not refugees, and they are not coming from Haiti. They are economic migrants.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Living in a country that happens to be very poor and suffers from things like earthquakes and hurricanes is regrettable, and we should assist Haiti and its people as we can.

But that is not grounds for asylum. Haitians who wish to emigrate to the US and other countries should do so through the conventional channels.

"Happens to" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this post. The reasons why Haiti is so much more indigent even than other Antillean countries can be directly traced back to policy decisions made by Western powers, from France's decision to force Haiti to compensate its former slavemasters out of its sovereign debt to the US's rinse-and-repeat installation and deposition of Aristide in the 90s. Haiti should be thought of as one of those countries to which the Western powers have special responsibilities because of our past stupid and/or immoral policy decisions towards it, not just somewhere that "happens to" produce a lot of economic migrants.

[lfromnj]

Its also worth pointing out, and this is something very few people will actually know, but Haiti (from the DR) has just picked up a deadly animal disease called African Swine Fever which has a 95%+ mortality rate and likely killed several hundred million pigs in China the past few years and sent the price of their protein through the roof and caused food panic in the supermarkets.

Introduction into the US would likely result in the mass euthanization of the US herd and cause unthinkable financial consequences.

Not fully relevant actually because many of these refugees are Haitian but they were previously living in South America.

[Calthrina950]

My father and I were having a conversation about this whole situation the other day, and he raised a point which I think is relevant. Our country is currently accepting Afghan refugees, and we've taken in many thousands of refugees from Cuba and Vietnam in the past. But we won't take in refugees from Haiti or from other black-majority countries. In other words, our refugee policy has been influenced by racial prejudices of the same kind that has influenced much of our domestic policy.

I am sorry, but this is just not accurate. According to DHS figures, over 50% of refugee arrivals in the US in 2019 were from Africa, with the largest being DR Congo, followed by Eritrea. In past years, Somalia and South Sudan were leading countries.

https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/table14

The US actually discriminates primarily against refugees from Middle Eastern countries, if anything.

I would beg to differ. You are correct that the Congo and Eritrea are among the leading countries from where refugees originate, but according to the Pew Research Center, 55% of refugees admitted into the United States were from Asia, not Africa. 28% of refugees came from Euorpe, which was the next largest category. And the number of refugees from Africa has dropped dramatically in recent years. And the United States has a long history of discriminating against Haitian refugees, when compared to refugees from Cuba and elsewhere.

[Santander]

My father and I were having a conversation about this whole situation the other day, and he raised a point which I think is relevant. Our country is currently accepting Afghan refugees, and we've taken in many thousands of refugees from Cuba and Vietnam in the past. But we won't take in refugees from Haiti or from other black-majority countries. In other words, our refugee policy has been influenced by racial prejudices of the same kind that has influenced much of our domestic policy.

I am sorry, but this is just not accurate. According to DHS figures, over 50% of refugee arrivals in the US in 2019 were from Africa, with the largest being DR Congo, followed by Eritrea. In past years, Somalia and South Sudan were leading countries.

https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/table14

The US actually discriminates primarily against refugees from Middle Eastern countries, if anything.

I would beg to differ. You are correct that the Congo and Eritrea are among the leading countries from where refugees originate, but according to the Pew Research Center, 55% of refugees admitted into the United States were from Asia, not Africa. 28% of refugees came from Euorpe, which was the next largest category. And the number of refugees from Africa has dropped dramatically in recent years. And the United States has a long history of discriminating against Haitian refugees, when compared to refugees from Cuba and elsewhere.

The figures I cited were directly from DHS. Obviously, the country mix will change year over year. Your assertion is that the US has pursued an anti-black refugee policy, which cannot be true when there are multiple times in recent history when Africa was the leading source of refugees. The US' refugee policy is, however, often tied to geopolitics, such as with Indochina, Cuba (which includes black Cubans), and the Soviet Union. The US was not a major colonial power in Africa, and its geopolitical interests for the past 150 years have primarily lied in Asia and Europe, which leads to politically-motivated refugee intake from those regions.

[Calthrina950]

My father and I were having a conversation about this whole situation the other day, and he raised a point which I think is relevant. Our country is currently accepting Afghan refugees, and we've taken in many thousands of refugees from Cuba and Vietnam in the past. But we won't take in refugees from Haiti or from other black-majority countries. In other words, our refugee policy has been influenced by racial prejudices of the same kind that has influenced much of our domestic policy.

I am sorry, but this is just not accurate. According to DHS figures, over 50% of refugee arrivals in the US in 2019 were from Africa, with the largest being DR Congo, followed by Eritrea. In past years, Somalia and South Sudan were leading countries.

https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/table14

The US actually discriminates primarily against refugees from Middle Eastern countries, if anything.

I would beg to differ. You are correct that the Congo and Eritrea are among the leading countries from where refugees originate, but according to the Pew Research Center, 55% of refugees admitted into the United States were from Asia, not Africa. 28% of refugees came from Euorpe, which was the next largest category. And the number of refugees from Africa has dropped dramatically in recent years. And the United States has a long history of discriminating against Haitian refugees, when compared to refugees from Cuba and elsewhere.

The figures I cited were directly from DHS. Obviously, the country mix will change year over year. Your assertion is that the US has pursued an anti-black refugee policy, which cannot be true when there are multiple times in recent history when Africa was the leading source of refugees. The US' refugee policy is, however, often tied to geopolitics, such as with Indochina, Cuba (which includes black Cubans), and the Soviet Union. The US was not a major colonial power in Africa, and its geopolitical interests for the past 150 years have primarily lied in Asia and Europe, which leads to politically-motivated refugee intake from those regions.

My father and I were having a conversation about this whole situation the other day, and he raised a point which I think is relevant. Our country is currently accepting Afghan refugees, and we've taken in many thousands of refugees from Cuba and Vietnam in the past. But we won't take in refugees from Haiti or from other black-majority countries. In other words, our refugee policy has been influenced by racial prejudices of the same kind that has influenced much of our domestic policy.

I am sorry, but this is just not accurate. According to DHS figures, over 50% of refugee arrivals in the US in 2019 were from Africa, with the largest being DR Congo, followed by Eritrea. In past years, Somalia and South Sudan were leading countries.

https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/table14

The US actually discriminates primarily against refugees from Middle Eastern countries, if anything.

I would beg to differ. You are correct that the Congo and Eritrea are among the leading countries from where refugees originate, but according to the Pew Research Center, 55% of refugees admitted into the United States were from Asia, not Africa. 28% of refugees came from Euorpe, which was the next largest category. And the number of refugees from Africa has dropped dramatically in recent years. And the United States has a long history of discriminating against Haitian refugees, when compared to refugees from Cuba and elsewhere.

The figures I cited were directly from DHS. Obviously, the country mix will change year over year. Your assertion is that the US has pursued an anti-black refugee policy, which cannot be true when there are multiple times in recent history when Africa was the leading source of refugees. The US' refugee policy is, however, often tied to geopolitics, such as with Indochina, Cuba (which includes black Cubans), and the Soviet Union. The US was not a major colonial power in Africa, and its geopolitical interests for the past 150 years have primarily lied in Asia and Europe, which leads to politically-motivated refugee intake from those regions.

I'm aware that the United States wasn't a leading colonial power in Africa, and I'm aware of where the focus of US geopolitical interests has historically been concentrated. But this doesn't detract from the points I was making with regards to its refugee policy, particularly as it has been applied to Haiti. And that history has been one of exclusion and unequal treatment.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Ugh, immigration definitely continues to be a weak spot for the Biden Admin. His policy of the "middle" is neither popular with progressives nor conservatives.

Agreed. He is disappointing the Democratic base who wanted a significant change from the Trump administration's hard-line stance, and is still somehow too lenient for Republicans to where we have asshats like F***er Carlson still parroting "replacement theory."

Democrats never win on immigration as an issue anyway, so Biden's administration ought to just deliver on what his own party wants, within reason.

[lfromnj]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/21dc9e5a-1e20-11ec-b8f6-2f9fbbeddc5b?shareToken=e584dcb14c14b9e079a731afdb7976fe



Picture from article

"Refugees"