White House Disputes Haiti Envoy's Charges in Resignation Letter
“Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my recommendations have been ignored and dismissed," Foote writes
The White House is forcefully pushing back after its hand-picked envoy to Haiti resigned suddenly Wednesday in a hail of accusations against the Biden administration as the administration deals with blowback with the treatment of Haitian migrants in the United States.
Envoy Daniel Foote quit after only being tapped for the special role for Haiti in July.
Foote, a career foreign service officer who previously served as ambassador to Zambia, sent his resignation letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“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,” Foote wrote. “Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my recommendations have been ignored and dismissed, when not edited to project a narrative different from my own.”
The Biden administration has been hammered this week under bipartisan criticism for its treatment of Haitian migrants held at an encampment at a Texas town near the southern border.
Its continued a Trump-era policy to expel Haitian migrants at a fast pace.
An investigation also is underway into apparent brutality Haitian migrants suffered at the hands of US border agents mounted on horseback.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki took issue with Foote’s characterizations Thursday during her regular daily press briefing.
"First I would note there have been multiple senior-level policy conversations on Haiti where all proposals, including those led by Special Envoy Foote, were fully considered in a rigorous policy process. There are disagreements in these policy processes,” Psaki said. “The president welcomes that, the secretary of state welcomes that. That's certainly a part of having discussions and having robust discussions about the best path forward for difficult circumstances.
“Some of those proposals were harmful to our commitment to the promotion of democracy in Haiti. I will not detail that further, I will let the State Department do that should they choose to,” she added. “But I would note that Special Envoy Foote had ample opportunity to raise concerns about migration during his tenure, he never once did so. Now, that wasn't his purview. His purview was, of course, being the special envoy on the ground. His positions and his views were put forward, they were valued, they were heard. Different policy decisions were made in some circumstances."
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