Amid an outcry over the U.S. treatment of Haitian asylum-seekers, the beleaguered island country’s embattled prime minister pointedly said Saturday that inequalities and conflict drive migration. But he stopped short of directly criticizing Washington over the issue.
“We do not wish to challenge the right of a sovereign state to control the entry borders into its territory, or to send back to the country of origin those who enter a country illegally,” Prime Minister Ariel Henry said in a video speech to the UN General Assembly’s annual meeting of world leaders.
But “human beings, fathers and mothers who have children, are always going to flee poverty and conflict,” he added, urging the international community to move fast to improve living conditions in the countries that refugees are leaving for political or economic reasons.
“Migration will continue as long as the planet has both wealthy areas, whilst most of the world’s population lives in poverty, even extreme poverty, without any prospects of a better life,” he said.
Henry spoke as his country reels from its president’s assassination, an earthquake and the migration crisis — all in the last three months. His government is facing increasing turmoil with presidential and legislative elections set for Nov. 7.
Confusion about U.S. immigration policies and misinformation on social media propelled thousands of Haitians to the U.S. southern border in recent months. A massive migrant camp — largely made up of Haitians, many of whom had been in Mexico or other Latin American countries for years — sprouted in the town of Del Rio, Texas, peaking last week at over 14,000 people hoping to gain entry to the U.S.
Images of U.S. border patrol agents using horses to block and move migrants sparked outrage, the resignation of the U.S. special envoy to Haiti and an ongoing investigation. President Joe Biden called the agents’ tactics “horrible,” “dangerous” and “wrong.”
The camp has now been cleared. Some people have been deported; about 12,400 migrants have been allowed into the U.S. to pursue their claims to stay, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
Henry noted that the images “shocked many people,” but he didn’t specifically say more about how the United States handled the situation. He noted, however, that “many countries which are prosperous today have been built through successive waves of migrants and refugees.”
