Quick Hit: 

President Joe Biden's administration has overseen a record 11 evacuations of U.S. embassies, more than any other presidential administration in U.S. history. The latest evacuation occurred in Haiti, where a Marine Corps special unit was dispatched to protect the evacuation of nonemergency personnel and fellow Marines from the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Key Details: 

• Since Biden took office in January 2021, his State Department has partially or fully evacuated 11 U.S. embassies via authorized or ordered departure directives.
• President Barack Obama presided over the second-most embassy evacuations of any administration with a total of eight over two terms, while Donald Trump presided over three partial evacuations in his four years as president.
• Military protection was required to ensure that Americans were escorted safely in the evacuations of America's embassies in Kabul, Afghanistan; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and Khartoum, Sudan.

Diving Deeper: 

The first embassy evacuation under the Biden administration occurred on March 30, 2021, in Burma, also known as Myanmar, following a military coup. The State Department ordered the departure of "non-essential diplomatic personnel and all personnel family members".

In November 2021, the State Department ordered nonessential staff to leave Chad as rebel fighters approached the capital, N'Djamena. This followed Biden's July 8, 2021, announcement that the U.S. was going to suspend all military operations in Afghanistan, which was met with chaos inside the war-torn country.

Threats from rebel forces in Ethiopia's civil war, known as the Tigray War, led the State Department in November 2021 to create a special task force to evacuate "nonemergency government personnel" from the country and the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa.

On Feb. 12, 2022, the State Department issued "Do Not Travel" notifications to American citizens for Ukraine. It also closed the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on Feb. 14, evacuating most staff. The department relocated a small team to operate from Poland 10 days before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Four days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the State Department ordered Americans to evacuate Belarus. The State Department also closed the U.S. Embassy in Minsk on Feb. 28. It has not reopened.

On the same day as its Belarus announcement, the State Department issued an authorized departure for "non-emergency employees and family members" from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. American citizens also were encouraged to leave Russia "immediately" on commercial flights before airlines quit operating in Russian airspace.

The State Department issued an ordered departure for nonemergency U.S. government employees and family members in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Oct. 27, 2022, citing an "elevated risk of terror attacks."

Following an April 18, 2023, attack on an American convoy in Khartoum, Sudan, the situation at the U.S. Embassy there deteriorated rapidly. The U.S. Defense Department deployed over 100 special operations forces to escort diplomatic staff and their families as well as the Marine Corps detachment assigned to guard the embassy.

In August 2023, the State Department issued an ordered departure to "non-emergency U.S. government personnel" of the U.S. Embassy in Niamey, the capital of Niger. The department coordinated evacuation of staff via military flights, since commercial flights were limited.

With Haiti's prime minister under U.S. protection in Puerto Rico, a gang leader and cannibal nicknamed Barbecue has taken leadership over the country. On March 10, nonessential U.S. Embassy staff were airlifted out by the Marine Corps in a nighttime operation. Hundreds of Americans remain trapped in Haiti as the situation deteriorates further.