The President of the United States, Joe Biden, criticized for his management of the migration crisis on the southern border of the country, assured, Friday, September 24, that there would be ” consequences “ to the actions of the police officers on horseback photographed pushing back Haitian migrants. ” It’s scandalous “Mr. Biden told reporters.
“I promise you, these people will pay, there will be an investigation”, he added, at the end of a speech devoted to vaccination against Covid-19. On Monday, the photos aroused great emotion in the United States. A snapshot taken by a photographer employed by Agence France-Presse (AFP) shows an officer on horseback grabbing a man by his T-shirt. On another, he keeps a group of people at bay by twirling his reins, in a threatening posture.
“Human beings should never be treated in such a way and this concerns me deeply”, reacted Tuesday the American vice-president, Kamala Harris, judging these images “Horrible”. She then said she supported the ongoing investigations. Asked about the “Chaos” at the US-Mexico border, Joe Biden said he was taking ” the responsibility [car il est] President “. ” It was horrible (…) to see people treated that way. “.
“It’s not who we are”
Following the release of the footage, border police will temporarily stop using officers on horseback around the small town of Del Rio, Texas, US officials said Thursday. ” It’s embarassingMr. Biden said at first, before recovering. It is more than embarrassing. It’s dangerous. It’s bad. It sends the wrong message to the world, the wrong message to us. “
“This is not who we are”, insisted the Democrat, who had promised, during his presidential campaign, to treat immigration issues humanely, in a position voluntarily opposed to that of his predecessor, Donald Trump. However, his administration is criticized from all quarters as the United States has undertaken to deport Haitians stationed at the border en masse. More than 1,400 of them have already been repatriated by plane, at a time when this small Caribbean country is plunged into a political, security and humanitarian crisis.
These tens of thousands of migrants, mostly Haitians, have been piling up for several weeks in the Mexican towns of Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala, and Ciudad Acuña, on the border with Texas, where they live in the unsanitary conditions.
On the political scene, the left reproaches Mr. Biden for his harshness, when the right conspires, she, what it considers to be laxity causing a migratory air intake. The tension around these subjects rose further on Thursday, with the resignation of the American envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote, who denounced in a scathing letter of the expulsions “Inhuman”.
www.lemonde.fr