8,000 camp under Texas bridge after border cross

U.S. officials hurry to assist sudden influx of migrants in humanitarian emergency

DEL RIO, Texas — Thousands of Haitian migrants who have crossed the Rio Grande over the past 48 hours are sleeping outdoors under a border bridge in south Texas, creating a humanitarian emergency and a logistical challenge U.S. agents describe as unprecedented.

Authorities in Del Rio, Texas, say more than 8,000 migrants have arrived at the impromptu camp and they are expecting thousands more in the coming days. Images of the bridge site show dense crowds, including families and small children, and deteriorating sanitary conditions.

The sudden influx has presented the Biden administration with a new border emergency at a time when illegal border crossings have reached a 20-year high, and Homeland Security officials are straining to accommodate and resettle more than 60,000 Afghan evacuees.

The migrants arriving to Del Rio appear to be part of a larger wave of Haitians heading northward, many of whom arrived in Brazil and other South American nations after the 2010 earthquake.

More than 29,000 Haitians have arrived over the past 11 months, the latest Customs and Border Protection figures show, including some in mixed-nationality families whose children were born in Brazil, Chile or other South American nations.

How many more may arrive in the next few days is unclear. CBP is scrambling to send additional agents to Del Rio to help process the migrants, issuing them numbers as they queue up to be formally apprehended, the first step in applying for asylum or another form of U.S. protection. Most of the migrants are likely to be released into the United States with a notice to appear in court at a future date.

CBP said it is providing drinking water, towels and other provisions to the site, but one agent in the Del Rio Sector said sanitary conditions are poor. There are 20 portable toilets at the site, according to Jon Anfinsen, the top Border Patrol union official in the Del Rio Sector.

“We’re scrambling to bring every resource we can, but it’s a logistical nightmare,” he said. “We’re pulling agents from across the country to help, but they’re not going to be there today, and we’re just trying to keep heads above water.”

Families with small children are given priority, Anfinsen said, in order to move them out of the bridge area as soon as possible.

“Many agents are mothers and fathers, and seeing kids in this situation is sad for everyone,” he said. “Morale is terrible.”

The Biden administration says it will continue to use its emergency authorities under Title 42 of the U.S. public health code to rapidly return or “expel” migrants. But Mexican authorities have declined to take back Haitians in recent months.

Del Rio Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano said the size of the group has increased steadily to more than 8,200 people. “I thought the worst-case scenario was having a couple people, maybe 150 people roaming the streets,” said Lozano, who warned the Biden administration in a February video that his community needed more federal support to cope with a surge in crossings.

“Although I foreshadowed a worstcase scenario, this is probably a worse case of worst-case scenarios,” he said. “I need the administration to recognize that there is a border crisis happening in real time right now, and it has dire consequences on security, health and safety.”