US President Joe Biden vows action against Texas border patrol

US President Joe Biden on Friday vowed to take action against border patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas over their treatment of Haitian migrants. Biden in his address also talked about the rollout of booster shoots for those most at risk for the coronavirus.

Images of men on horseback, border patrol, with long reins, corralling Haitian asylum seekers trying to cross into the US from Mexico. These visuals came as these migrants are being forcefully deported from the United States to their homeland. 

Also read: PM Modi holds bilateral talks with Biden at Oval office

“It’s outrageous. I promise you those people will pay. They will be investigated. There will be consequences,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question at the White House. The administration has also temporarily suspended horse patrols in Del Rio, Texas.

Biden added that he takes responsibility for what happened. “It’s dangerous. It’s wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world and sends the wrong message at home. It’s simple not who we are,” he said. 

On Thursday, Biden administration’s special envoy to Haiti resigned in protest of “inhumane” large-scale expulsions of Haitian migrants. Daniel Foote was appointed to the position only in July, following the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise.

Foote wrote Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he was stepping down immediately “with deep disappointment and apologies to those seeking crucial changes.”

Also read: US President Joe Biden’s ‘..Haiti sunk’ remark from 30 years ago resurfaces amid deportations

“I will not be associated with the United States inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs to daily life,” he wrote. “Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my policy recommendations have been ignored and dismissed, when not edited to project a narrative different from my own.”

The expulsion flights to Haiti began Sunday and there were 10 by the end of Tuesday, according to Haitian officials. U.S. officials say they are ramping up to seven flights a day, which would make it one of the swiftest, large-scale expulsions from the U.S. in decades.

With inputs from the Associated Press