USA TODAY International Edition
Biden sends border agents to remove migrants
Haitian refugees set up camp in Texas town
DEL RIO, Texas – The United States blocked the Mexican border Sunday at an isolated Texas town where thousands of Haitian refugees crossed and set up a camp. Hoping to stop the flow of illegal immigration, officials began flying migrants back to their homeland.
About a dozen Texas Department of Public Safety vehicles lined up near the river between Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, and Del Rio, Texas, where Haitians have been crossing for almost three weeks. Yellow police tape blocked a small dam they used to walk into the USA.
Many migrants from Latin America seek asylum in the USA as economic opportunities in Brazil and elsewhere dry up. Thousands live under or near a bridge in Del Rio.
Sunday, the United States sent three flights of Haitians to Port- au- Prince, Haiti’s capital.
Some said the devastating earthquake in Haiti and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse make them afraid to return.
“In Haiti, there is no security,” said Fabricio Jean, 38, who arrived in Texas with his wife and two daughters. “The country is in a political crisis.”
Scores of people waded back and forth across the Rio Grande on Saturday, re- entering Mexico to purchase water, food and diapers in Ciudad Acuña before returning to the Texas encampment.
Junior Jean, 32, from Haiti, watched people carry cases of water or bags of food through the knee- high river water. Jean said he lived on the streets in Chile the past four years, resigned to searching for food in garbage cans. “We are all looking for a better life,” he said.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry wrote Sunday on Twitter that he is concerned about conditions at the border camp and that the migrants would be welcomed back. “We want to reassure them that measures have already been taken to give them a better welcome upon their return to the country and that they will not be left behind,” he tweeted. Henry did not provide details about the measures.
Another Haitian political leader questioned Sunday whether the nation could handle an influx of returning migrants and said the government should stop the repatriation. “We have the situation in the south with the earthquake. The economy is a disaster, ( and) there are no jobs,” Election Minister Mathias Pierre said, adding that most Haitians can’t satisfy basic needs. “The prime minister should negotiate with the U. S. government to stop those deportations in this moment of crises.”
The U. S. Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that it moved about 2,000 migrants from the camp to other locations Friday for processing and possible removal. A statement from the agency said it would have 400 agents and officers in the area by Monday morning and would send more if necessary.