Federal agents guarding a makeshift encampment for a wave of Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas, have stopped using horse-drawn patrols after images surfaced of horse law enforcement chasing migrants.
The footage prompted a swift rebuke, with lawmakers criticizing the practice as inhumane and the Biden administration’s desire for a speedy investigation. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before Congress this week about the footage.
Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed on Thursday that the use of horse-drawn patrols had been temporarily suspended in Del Rio.
The Biden administration continues to question how it is handling a wave of Haitian migrants crossing the southern border. Thousands of migrants were living this week in a makeshift camp along the riverbank between Del Rio, Texas, and Ciudad Acuña in Mexico.
Following:Despite threats of repatriation to Haiti, migrant families survive in a camp near Rio Grande
State Department denies envoy’s claims
Hours after announcing the resignation of the Biden administration’s special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, State Department spokesman Ned Price disputed Foote’s claim that the recommendations of the career diplomat had been ignored.
“There have been several high-level political conversations on Haiti, where all proposals, including those led by Special Envoy Foote, have been fully considered through a rigorous and transparent political process,” Price said. Thursday. “Some of these proposals were deemed detrimental to our commitment to promoting democracy in Haiti and were rejected during the political process. For him, to say that his proposals were ignored is simply wrong.
Price added that in debating advice for President Joe Biden, “no idea is ignored, but not all ideas are good ideas.”
He said Foote quit and “misinterpreted” what happened. “He did not take many opportunities to voice his concerns about migration during his tenure and instead chose to resign.”
– Katie Wadington
Mexican State Police and Texas State Soldiers stand guard on the banks of the RIo Grande
Mexican state police guarded the south shore of the Rio Grande on Thursday as Texas state soldiers trained along the north shore of the river as Haitian migrants had to decide whether to cross over to the States. United.
Aerial photos taken by the El Paso Times show a dozen Mexican State Police vehicles spaced along a path that skirts the Rio Grande near where a wave of Haitian migrants passed through Del Rio.
On the US side of the river, about four times as many Texas State Trooper vehicles held tight formation near a bridge where migrants set up a makeshift camp.
– Rick Rouan
Mexican authorities visit Haitian migrant camp across the Rio Grande
Mexican authorities began gathering Thursday morning at a migrant camp in Ciudad Acuña, just across the river from Del Rio, Texas, where an encampment of thousands of Haitian migrants has drawn international attention.
Local, state and federal authorities rushed to a park on the south bank of the river separating Mexico from the United States, bringing in state police buses and vehicles, according to the El Paso Times.
The entrance to the park was blocked, the Associated Press reported, and a helicopter flew over Thursday morning. State Police vehicles were spaced approximately 30 feet apart, and a fence led the migrants to the crossing point they were using to enter the United States.
– Lauren Villagran, El Paso Times and Associated Press
President Biden’s envoy to Haiti resigns for “inhuman” treatment of Haitian migrants
WASHINGTON – A career American diplomat in Haiti has resigned following the “inhumane” decision of the Biden administration to deport thousands of Haitians attempting to enter the United States to the island nation.
Ambassador Daniel Foote, a special envoy for Haiti, wrote in his resignation letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he could not be associated with the “inhuman and counterproductive decision of the government to expel thousands of Haitian refugees ”. He has been at his post for two months.
Foote added that the US approach to Haiti “remains deeply flawed” and his advice has been ignored.
The letter was originally reported by PBS News Hour and The Nouvelliste, a Haitian newspaper.
The move comes days after jarring images circulated from the Texas border with Mexico, where thousands of Haitian migrants arrived after migrating through other Latin American countries.
“The people of Haiti, mired in poverty, held hostage to terror, kidnappings, robberies and slaughter by armed and suffering gangs under a corrupt government with gang alliances, simply cannot stand the forced injection of thousands of returning migrants lacking food, shelter and money without additional and preventable human tragedy, ”Foote wrote.
Foote, who made his career in the foreign service, was appointed special envoy in July.
– Matthew Brown