U.S. removing migrants from Texas border camp, begins flights to Haiti

DEL RIO, Texas/CIUDAD ACUÑA, Mexico, Sept 19 (Reuters) - U .S. border agents are removing groups of mostly Haitian migrants from a large makeshift camp they had set up after wading across the Rio Grande separating Mexico and the United States, as the first repatriation flight arrived in Haiti on Sunday.

The sprawling camp under the international bridge attracted more than 12,000 migrants at one point and marked a new challenge for U.S. authorities, who have sought to reduce the flow of Central Americans and now many Haitians who have fled rampant poverty, gang violence and natural disasters back home.

U.S. authorities have moved 3,300 migrants since Friday from Del Rio, Texas, and announced a new daily schedule of flights to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, where some officials expressed concern on Sunday for a potentially large influx of returning migrants in the next few days. "Over the next six to seven days, our goal is to process the 12,662 migrants that we have underneath that bridge as quickly as we possibly can," U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told a news conference in Del Rio, Texas.

He said the United States was working with countries through which the migrants had transited to get them to accept those who had been awaiting immigration processing under the bridge that links Del Rio with Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.

Migrants were continuing to cross the river over the weekend despite heightened security on the U.S. side that on Sunday included horsemounted agents, one of whom was seen swinging a rope at a person wading in the Rio Grande.

One Venezuelan migrant, who asked to remain anonymous because he was frightened of risking his petition for asylum, said he saw many Haitians return to Mexico to avoid being sent back to Haiti.