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Democratic former Texas congressman and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke ripped the Biden administration’s decision to expel thousands of Haitian refugees in a scathing op-ed on Friday, accusing the president and his advisors of failing to anticipate a crisis that was "years in the making."
The op-ed for El Paso Matters cited several recent events that prompted Haitian refugees to risk the journey to the United States, including Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010, the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. O’Rourke questioned why the Biden administration was "so slow to respond" to the situation.
"Unfortunately, stung by the outcry and caught without a plan, the Biden administration used a cynical Trump-era policy (known as Title 42) to immediately, and without due process, repatriate Haitians back to the country they left a decade ago, one whose streets are now ruled by gangs and criminals," O’Rourke wrote.
"So antithetical to our values and our common humanity, that the administration’s own envoy to Haiti resigned in disgust, writing that we shouldn’t be sending these refugees back to ‘a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs in control of daily life,’" O’Rourke added.
O’Rourke has indicated In recent days that he will run for governor of Texas in 2022.
Daniel Foote, the Biden administration’s special envoy to Haiti, resigned earlier this week over what he described as an "inhumane" decision to conduct large-scale deportations. Prior to the expulsions, the migrant camp in Del Rio, Texas, at one point housed about 15,000 refugees.
Democratic lawmakers and civil rights groups stepped up their criticism of Biden after images surfaced of Border Patrol officers on horseback getting physical with Haitian refugees at the camp. Earlier Friday, Biden warned agents who acted inappropriately would face "consequences."
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"We need some leadership at this moment," O’Rourke added. "Not the photo ops favored by our governor and GOP congressmen, hungry to pose tough in front of suffering people. Not the quickie deportations that will only exacerbate the problems in Haiti and likely produce more outbound refugees who will appear on our border in a future year."
A member of the House from 2013 to 2019, O’Rourke staged an unsuccessful bid in 2018 to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
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