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The American special envoy to Haiti has resigned in protest at the “inhumane” deportation of hundreds of Haitian migrants back to their country from a camp on the US-Mexican border.

Daniel Foote said that conditions in the Caribbean nation were so bad that US officials were confined to secure compounds because of the danger of armed gangs, and the “collapsed state” could not support the number of returning migrants.

In recent weeks, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere has been hit by the assassination of president Jovenel Moise, gang violence and a major earthquake.

Daniel Foote. Pic: State Department
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Daniel Foote has hit out at the Biden administration. Pic: State Department

Mr Foote claimed the US approach was “flawed” and his resignation follows growing pressure on the Biden administration from fellow Democrats and the UN over the treatment of Haitians in the sprawling impromptu camp near the town of Del Rio, Texas.

Images which showed a US border patrol agent on horseback appearing to use a whip to threaten migrants caused outrage in the White House and from human rights groups.

In both footage and photos, agents were shown confronting migrants near the camp by the Rio Grande river, as they tried to cross the US border from Mexico.

The White House has now said horses will no longer be used by agents at the Del Rio border.

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Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, has also denied reports that the Department of Homeland Security had issued a new contract to operate a migrant facility at Guantanamo for Haitian migrants.

In recent days, the migrants have been crossing back and forth between the Mexican city of Ciudad Acuna and the camp to buy food and water, currently in short supply on the US side.

Haitian migrants flown out of Texas arrive in Port-au-Prince
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Migrants flown out of Texas arrive in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince
Haitian migrants flown out of Texas arrive in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

As many as 14,000 people were at the camp last Saturday. The population has now been cut to less than half that by expulsion flights and detentions.

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said the US has returned 1,401 migrants from the camp to Haiti and taken another 3,206 people into custody.

Career diplomat Mr Foote, who became Haiti envoy in July, said in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “I will not be associated with the United States’ inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants.

“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.”

Analysis by Greg Milam, US correspondent

It is the most damning indictment of all for Joe Biden and his handling of the latest crisis on the border that his own special envoy has resigned with a stinging rebuke for the president.

“Inhumane” and “counterproductive” is how Daniel Foote described the Biden administration’s approach to dealing with the crush of thousands of Haitians in a squalid camp on the border in Texas. Deporting people to a country they left a decade ago, now blighted by poverty and violence, he said was “flawed”.

Foote has been accused by the State Department spokesperson of mischaracterising the affair but the noise of squabbling diplomats hardly helps create an impression of an administration that has a grip.

Senior figures within the president’s own party have expressed alarm at the chaos on the border and the apparent lack of a coherent plan to deal with it or the bigger issue of immigration.

The rush of resources to the International Bridge in Del Rio has thinned the numbers camped there and may give the impression of a problem solved but it has simply shifted that problem elsewhere. It happened with the last border surge crisis in Texas and it will happen again. Where and when the next crush will come is the question.

Biden deputed his vice-president, Kamala Harris, to deal with the border but the issue has rapidly become an enduring crisis of his presidency. Telling people to stay away is not working.

The president himself has been largely silent on the issue. The longer he remains so, the greater the chance for his political rivals to portray him as a man without a plan.

For weeks, Mr Foote had been trying to boost US security assistance to Haiti to pave the way for presidential elections.

But commentators said he became increasingly disappointed with the speed of decision-making in the White House.

Haitian migrants in a makeshift camp near Del Rio in Texas. Pic: AP
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Haitian migrants in a makeshift camp near Del Rio in Texas. Pic: AP

A State Department spokesperson said Washington was committed to the long-term wellbeing of Haiti, as well as offering immediate help to returning migrants.

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Tennessee: Man tries to detonate 14 explosive devices while being arrested

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Tennessee: Man tries to detonate 14 explosive devices while being arrested

Police in Tennessee have discovered 14 improvised explosive devices in a man’s home as they were arresting him, the local sheriff’s office said.

Officers were executing a warrant in the home of Kevin Wade O’Neal in Old Fort, about 45 miles (70km) east of Chattanooga, after he had threatened to kill public officials and law enforcement personnel in Polk County.

After arresting the 54-year-old, officers noticed “something smouldering” in the bedroom where he was found.

Kevin Wade O'Neal. Pic: Polk County Sheriff's Office
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Kevin Wade O’Neal. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office

On closer inspection, they discovered an improvised explosive device and evacuated the house until bomb squad officers arrived at the scene.

Fourteen devices were found inside the property – none of which detonated.

Improvised explosive devices were found in Kevin Wade O'Neal's home. Pic: Polk County Sheriff's Office
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Improvised explosive devices were found in Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office

Kevin Wade O'Neal's home in Old Fort, Tennessee. Pic: Polk County Sheriff's Office
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Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home in Old Fort, Tennessee. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office

O’Neal was charged with 11 counts of attempted first-degree murder, corresponding to nine officers and two other people inside the property when the suspect tried to detonate the devices.

He also faces 14 counts of prohibited weapons and one count of possession of explosive components.

More on Tennessee

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O’Neal is being held at the Polk County jail and his bond is yet to be determined.

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Trump orders two nuclear subs to be moved closer to Russia

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Trump orders two nuclear subs to be moved closer to Russia

Donald Trump says he has ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the “appropriate regions” in a row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

It comes after Mr Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia‘s Security Council, told the US president on Thursday to remember Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.

On Friday, Mr Trump wrote on social media: “Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.

“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

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Trump: ‘We’re going to protect our people’

Speaking outside the White House later in the day, Mr Trump was asked about why he had moved the submarines and replied: “We had to do that. We just have to be careful.

“A threat was made and we didn’t think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful. So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we’re going to protect our people.”

The spat between Mr Trump and Mr Medvedev came after the US president warned Russia on Tuesday it had “10 days from today” to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face tariffs, along with its oil buyers.

Moscow has shown no sign that it will agree to Mr Trump’s demands.

Trump’s move appears to signal a significant deterioration in relationship with Putin

Normally it’s Moscow rattling the nuclear sabres, but this time it’s Washington in what marks a dramatic escalation in Donald Trump’s war of words with the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

More importantly, it appears to signal a significant deterioration in his relationship with Vladimir Putin.

The US president’s patience with the Kremlin was already at its thinnest earlier this week, when he shrank his deadline for progress towards a peace deal from 50 days to 10.

But Russia’s lack of outward concern with this stricter ultimatum – which has swung from dismissive to (in Medvedev’s case) insulting – seems to have flicked a switch.

For this is the first time Trump’s pressure on Moscow has amounted to anything more than words.

We don’t know where the subs are, or how far they had to move to get closer to Russia, but it’s an act that sits several rungs higher than the usual verbal threats to impose sanctions.

How will Russia respond? I’m not sure Vladimir Putin has ever caved to an ultimatum and I doubt he’ll start now.

But I don’t think he’ll want the situation to deteriorate further. So I suspect he’ll make another offer to the US, that’s dressed up as a concession, but in reality may prove to be anything but.

It’s a tactic that’s worked before, but the stakes have suddenly got higher.

Read more:
Who are the winners (if any) and losers of Trump’s tariffs?

On Thursday, Mr Medvedev reminded Mr Trump that Russia possessed a Soviet-era automated nuclear retaliatory system – or “dead hand”.

Mr Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was referring to a secretive semi-automated Soviet command system designed to launch Russia’s missiles if its leadership was taken out in a decapitating strike.

He made the remarks after Mr Trump told him to “watch his words” after Mr Medvedev said the US president’s threat of hitting Russia and its oil buyers with punitive tariffs was “a game of ultimatums” and added that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war” between Russia and the US.

Dmitry Medvedev. Pic: Reuters
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Dmitry Medvedev. Pic: Reuters

Mr Medvedev served as Russia’s president from 2008 and 2012, when Mr Putin was barred from seeking a third consecutive term, but then stepped aside to let him run again.

As deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, he has become known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

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Trump says ‘nobody has asked’ him to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell – but he has ‘right to do it’

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Trump says 'nobody has asked' him to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell - but he has 'right to do it'

Donald Trump has said “nobody has asked” him to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, but insisted he has “the right to do it” as US president.

Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of helping the paedophile financier traffic and sexually abuse underage girls in 2021.

Prosecutors have said Epstein’s sex crimes could not have been done without Maxwell, but her lawyers have maintained that she was wrongly prosecuted and denied a fair trial, and have floated the idea of a pardon from Mr Trump.

Last week, they asked the US Supreme Court to take up her case.

When pressed on the possibility of pardoning Maxwell, Mr Trump told reporters: “I’m allowed to do it, but nobody’s asked me to do it.”

He continued: “I know nothing about it. I don’t know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it. I have the right to give pardons, I’ve given pardons to people before, but nobody’s even asked me to do it.”

Mr Trump also said he would not pardon Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted in July on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.

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Trump ‘never visited Espstein island’

His comments came shortly after the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) said Maxwell has been moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.

She was being held at a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, that housed men and women, but has now been transferred to a prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

When asked why Maxwell was transferred, BOP spokesperson Donald Murphy said he could not comment on the specifics, but that the BOP determines where inmates are sent based on such factors as “the level of security and supervision the inmate requires”.

Maxwell’s lawyer confirmed the move but also declined to discuss the specific reasons for it.

The Texas camp houses solely female prisoners, the majority of whom are serving time for nonviolent offences and white-collar crimes, Sky’s US partner NBC News reports.

Trump and Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News
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Trump and Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News

Minimum-security federal prison camps house inmates considered to be the lowest security risk and some facilities do not even have fences.

A senior administration official told NBC: “Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd.

“Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to significant safety and danger concerns.”

Read more:
All we know about Trump and Epstein’s ‘friendship’
Analysis: Trump hopes to escape Epstein controversy

Maxwell has received renewed attention in recent weeks, after the US Justice Department said it would not be releasing the so-called ‘Epstein files’.

The department said a review of the Epstein case had found “no incriminating ‘client list'” and “no credible evidence” the jailed financier – who killed himself in prison in 2019 – had blackmailed famous men.

Officials from the Trump administration have since tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case.

Last month, they lodged a request to unseal grand jury transcripts – which was denied – and Maxwell was last week interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Epstein survivor’s family criticises move

Maxwell’s move to a lower security facility has been criticised by the family of Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, and accusers Annie and Maria Farmer.

They said in a statement: “It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received.

“Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency.

“Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas.”

The statement concluded: “This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better.”

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