A top U.S. official on Friday apologized for how Haitian migrants were treated along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it’s not how border officials or the Department of Homeland Security behave.
The comments from Juan Gonzalez, the U.S. National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere, came during a two-day official visit to Haiti to talk with local leaders about migration and other issues.
“I want to say that it was an injustice, that it was wrong,” he said. “The proud people of Haiti and any migrant deserve to be treated with dignity.”
The U.S. government recently came under fire for its treatment of Haitian migrants, with images showing men on horseback, corralling Haitian asylum seekers.
Gonzalez was visiting with Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, amid ongoing expulsions of Haitians from the U.S. to their homeland. Since Sept. 19, the U.S. has expelled some 4,600 Haitian migrants from Del Rio, Texas on 43 flights, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Gonzalez said the gathering of migrants along the border is a public health emergency and warned those who are thinking of leaving not to risk their lives.
“The danger is too great,” he said.
http://globalreportage.org/2021/10/02/us-official-in-haiti-apologizes-for-treatment-of-migrants/
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