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DEL RIO, Texas – The United States plans to speed up efforts to deport Haitian migrants on flights to their Caribbean homeland, officials said on Saturday as officers poured into a Texas border town where thousands of Haitians gathered after suddenly crossing the United States from Mexico.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it had moved around 2,000 of the migrants who gathered under and near a bridge in the border town of Del Rio to other locations on Friday for processing and deportation. possible from the United States. He also said he would have 400 agents and officers in the area by Monday morning and was ready to send more if needed.
The announcement marks a swift response to the sudden arrival of Haitians in Del Rio, a town of about 35,000 people located about 145 miles west of San Antonio and located on a relatively remote stretch of border that does not lacks the capacity to contain and process such a large number of people.
A US official told The Associated Press on Friday that Haiti’s operational capacity and willingness to accept flights would determine their number. The official said progress was being made in negotiations with Haitian authorities.
The official said the United States would likely fly five to eight planes a day, starting Sunday, while another official expected no more than two a day and said all migrants would be tested for the COVID-19. The two officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday closed vehicle and pedestrian traffic in both directions at the only border crossing between Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, “to meet urgent security and safety needs. safety”. Travelers were directed indefinitely to a passage at Eagle Pass, 57 miles away.
Crowd estimates varied, but Val Verde County Sheriff Frank Joe Martinez said on Friday there were about 13,700 newcomers to Del Rio. The migrants pitched tents and built makeshift shelters from giant reeds known as the carrizo cane. Many bathed and washed clothes in the river.
The flight plan, while potentially massive, depends on how Haitians react. They may have to decide whether to stay put at the risk of being sent back to an impoverished homeland ravaged by poverty and political instability or return to Mexico. Unaccompanied minors are exempt from accelerated deportations.
DHS said: “Our borders are not open and people should not be making the dangerous journey.”
“Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, including deportation,” the agency wrote. “Irregular migration poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of border communities and to the lives of migrants themselves, and should not be attempted. “
Stephen Miller, the main architect of former President Donald Trump’s intransigent policies and a frequent critic of the Biden administration, has expressed doubt that the Haitian government will accept the number of flights for a large-scale operation. He recounted daily calls with US State Department officials last year about Haiti’s resistance to thefts, with Haiti only relenting under threat of sanctions.
About 500 Haitians have been ordered to get off buses by Mexican immigration authorities in the state of Tamaulipas, about 120 miles south of the Texas border, the state government said on Friday in a statement. Press release. They continued on foot towards the border.
Haitians have migrated to the United States in large numbers from South America for several years, many having left their Caribbean countries after a devastating earthquake in 2010. After jobs have dried up since the Olympic Games d he summer of 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous journey by foot, bus and car to the US border, including through the infamous Darien Gap, a Panamanian jungle.
It is not known how so large numbers amassed so quickly, although many Haitians have gathered in camps on the Mexican side of the border to wait before deciding if they attempt to enter the United States.
U.S. authorities are under severe strain after Biden quickly dismantled Trump administration policies that Biden considered cruel or inhumane, including requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico pending U.S. court hearings in the United States. ‘immigration.
A pandemic-related order to immediately deport migrants without giving them the opportunity to seek asylum that was introduced in March 2020 remains in place, but unaccompanied children and many families have been exempted. During his first month in office, Biden chose to exempt children traveling alone for humanitarian reasons.
Haitians crossed the Rio Grande freely on Friday and in a steady stream, back and forth between the United States and Mexico in knee-deep water, with some parents carrying young children on their shoulders. Unable to obtain supplies from the United States, they briefly returned to Mexico to collect food and cardboard to settle, at least temporarily, under or near the bridge in Del Rio, a city of 35,000 that was severely strained by the flow of migrants in recent months.
Haitian migrants rest near freshwater plants near the Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on Friday.
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