WASHINGTON, 25 September 2021, (TON): Daniel Foote, a career diplomat named to his post in July, said the "collapsed state" was unable to support the infusion of returning migrants

The US special envoy to Haiti resigned in protest in a letter that blasted the Biden administration for deporting hundreds of migrants back to the crisis-engulfed Caribbean nation from a camp on the US-Mexican border in recent days.

Daniel Foote, a career diplomat named to his post in July, said the "collapsed state" was unable to support the infusion of returning migrants.

Foote said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that circulated publicly "I will not be associated with the United States' inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants."

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, has been hit in recent weeks by a presidential assassination, gang violence and a major earthquake.

The United States has returned more than 1,400 migrants from the camp in Del Rio, Texas to Haiti, including families, and moved over 3,200 people for processing away from the encampment, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials.

The officials said “at its peak on Sept. 18 there were some 15,000 people at the camp, around two-thirds of those families.”

Many of the migrants say they hope to stay in the United States and seek asylum. But an expulsion policy in place since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic means most may not get that opportunity.

Some are being loaded onto flights back to Haiti while others are being released into the United States to pursue their immigration cases in court.

At least four deportation flights to Haiti were scheduled for Thursday, according to a flight tracking website and activists who track deportation flights.

Foote submitted his resignation to Blinken, a State Department spokesperson said.

He added that Washington was committed to the long-term well being of Haiti, as well as offering immediate help to returning migrants.