US envoy resigns over expulsions to Haiti from Texas camp

CIUDAD ACUNA, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The US envoy to Haiti dramatically resigned on Thursday in a letter that excoriated Washington for deporting hundreds of migrants to the crisis-engulfed Caribbean nation from a border camp in recent days.

The resignation was confirmed by a senior official at the US State Department. “I will not be associated with the United States’ inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants,” Daniel Foote said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that circulated publicly on Thursday.

Foote, a career diplomat named in July as special envoy to Haiti, said conditions in the country were so bad that US officials were confined to secure compounds. He said the “collapsed state” was unable to support the infusion of returning migrants.

His resignation follows growing pressure on the administration of US President Joe Biden from the United Nations and fellow Democrats over the treatment of Haitians in a migrant camp in Texas near the Mexican border.