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For the final leg of his journey from Chile to the United States, Haitian migrant Fabricio Jean followed detailed instructions sent to him via WhatsApp by his brother from New Jersey who had recently taken the road to the Texas border.
His brother sent him 20,000 pesos (about US $ 1,000) for the trip, then meticulously plotted it, warning him of areas with high density of Mexican immigration officials.
What Jean did not expect was to find thousands of Haitian migrants like him crossing in the same remote place.
The 38-year-old man, his wife and two young children earlier this month joined up to 14,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, camped under a bridge in Del Rio, many of whom left their countries of originated after the devastating earthquake of 2010 and live in Latin America, drawn to the once thriving economies of Brazil and Chile.
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Migrants use platforms like Facebook, YouTube WhatsApp to share information, the latter being the most popular.
The online posts touting the Mexican town of Ciudad Acuña, across from Del Rio, began after President Joe Biden took office and began to reverse some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Facebook Inc., which owns WhatsApp, allows people to exchange information about crossing borders, even illegally, but its policy prohibits posts that ask for money for services that facilitate human trafficking.
Haitians started crossing there this year, but their numbers skyrocketed after a Biden administration program ended that briefly opened the door to some asylum seekers, said Nicole Phillips, of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. , based in San Diego, which defends Haitian migrants.
Once that stopped in August, people panicked and posts recommending Ciudad Acuña “went viral,” Phillips said.
Interviews with dozens of Haitian migrants, lawyers and immigration advocates reveal phenomenon produced in part by confusion over Biden administration policies after authorities recently extended protection to more than 100,000 Haitians living in the United States.
CIUDAD ACUNA, MEXICO – SEPTEMBER 20: U.S. Border Patrol officers monitor Haitian immigrants on the shore of the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas on September 20, 2021, as seen from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. As U.S. immigration officials began deporting immigrants to Haiti from Del Rio, thousands more waited in a camp under an international bridge in Del Rio while others crossed the river back to Mexico to avoid the deportation. (Photo by John Moore / Getty Images)
((Photo by John Moore / Getty Images))
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In extending protections to Haitians this spring, the Biden administration spoke of security concerns and social unrest in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Robins Exile said he and his pregnant wife, who left Brazil after losing her job amid the pandemic-ravaged economy, headed to Tijuana, Mexico instead after seeing warnings via YouTube and WhatsApp from other Haitian migrants.
“Many Haitians now advise against coming to Acuña. They say it is no longer a good place,” he said.
“The United States releases a few, but only a few,” he said, referring to US officials who told the PA on Tuesday that thousands of Haitians in detention have been released. and were ordered to report to an immigration office, contradicting the Biden administration’s announcement that all Haitians camped in the city would be deported to Haiti.
Despite Biden’s announcement to transform Haitian immigrants, many families continue to be released in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said temporary protections were limited to those who resided in the United States before July 29 – but this condition was often lacking in posts, leading Haitians outside the United States to believe that they too were eligible.
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Mayorkas acknowledged that this week, stating “we are very concerned that Haitians who use the irregular migration route are receiving false information that the border is open” or that they may claim protected status despite the expiration of the time limit.
“I want to make sure that people know this is not the way to come to the United States,” he said.
Thousands of Haitians have been stranded in Mexican border towns since 2016, when the Obama administration abruptly halted a policy that initially allowed them to enter on humanitarian grounds.
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