After he was nominated by President Trump to lead the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM), Ken Isaacs made his Twitter account private in a failed bid to tamp down criticism of his history of xenophobic and Islamophobic comments. It didn’t work. His nomination was just defeated.
The UN migration agency’s member states have rejected President Trump’s nominee for director-general, making it only the second time in the agency’s history that it will not be led by an American.
Ken Isaacs, an executive with a Christian charity, was eliminated after three voting rounds, AFP reported…
…The IOM has been led by an American throughout its 67-year history with one exception, from 1961 to 1969.
The IOM will be headed instead by former EU commissioner, Antonio Vitorino of Portugal. According to reporting from the BBC, European nations were instrumental in Isaacs’ defeat as they preferred someone who could “find a common response to the migrant crisis.” It probably didn’t help America’s cause that Isaacs is a climate change denier.
I say “America’s cause,” but I don’t even know what that means anymore. For most of us, Mr. Isaacs didn’t offer the kind of influence and representation that we want our country to have, so it’s probably preferable that someone from Portugal heads this organization. If nothing else, what Mr. Vitorino does or doesn’t do will not add to our national humiliation.
