DEL RIO: The Biden administration on Saturday worked out a plan to send thousands of Haitian migrants who have gathered in a Texas the border town back to its Caribbean homeland, in a quick response to the massive influx of people who had suddenly crossed the border Mexico and gathered under and around a bridge.
The details were yet to be finalized, but will likely include five to eight flights per day, starting Sunday, according to an official with direct knowledge of the plans authorized to discuss the matter publicly. and spoke to the Associated Press on this condition. Oblivion. San Antonio, nearest major city by the river, where migrants have gathered, may be among the cities departing.
The official said on Friday that operational capacity and the willingness of Haiti would determine the number of flights, but that “good progress” was being made.
Another administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expected two flights per day, and said all migrants would be tested for COVID-19.
US officials closed the only border crossing in Del Rio to vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Friday, as the chaotic influx of migrants presented a new and immediate challenge to the administration as it struggles to manage the large numbers of asylum seekers. trying to. American soil.
US Customs and Border Protection said it was closing the border crossing with Ciudad Acua, Mexico, “to respond to urgent security and security needs.” Passengers were being directed to a crossing at Eagle Pass, 57 miles (91 km) away.
Haitians crossed the Rio Grande freely and in a steady stream on Friday, going back and forth between the US and Mexico through knee-deep waters, some parents carrying young children on their shoulders . Unable to buy supplies in the US, they briefly returned to Mexico for food and cardboard, temporarily, at least, under or near a bridge in Del Río, a city of 35,000 that had grown in recent months. has been severely affected by migrant flows.
Migrants pitched tents and built temporary shelters out of giant reeds known as carrizo canes. Many people took a bath in the river and washed their clothes.
Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens said Friday the vast majority of migrants on the bridge were Haitians, the county’s top elected official and whose jurisdiction includes Del Rio. Some families were under the bridge for six days.
Owens said the litter box was 10 feet (3.1 m) wide, and that at least two women had given birth, one of whom tested positive for COVID-19 after being taken to the hospital.
The county’s sheriff, Frank Joe Martinez, estimated the crowd to be 13,700 and said more Haitians were traveling from Mexico by bus.
The flight plan, while potentially massive, hinges on how the Haitians respond. They may have to decide whether to live at risk of being sent back to a poor homeland ravaged by poverty and political instability, or returning to Mexico. Unaccompanied children are exempt from fast-track eviction.
About 500 Haitians were ordered to be disembarked by Mexican immigration officials in Tamaulipas state, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) south of the Texas border, the state government said in a news release Friday. They proceeded towards the border on foot.
Haitians have been migrating to the US in large numbers from South America for many years, with many leaving their Caribbean nation after the devastating 2010 earthquake. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus and car to the US border, including the infamous Darren Gap, a Panamanian jungle.
It is unclear how such large numbers accumulated so quickly, although many Haitians have gathered in camps on the Mexican side of the border, including from San Diego to Tijuana, to decide whether to enter the United States. to try or not.
The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. “We will address it accordingly,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Meyercas said Friday on MSNBC.
an officer in the president Joe BidenThe U.S. administration, which was not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the action is not specifically targeting Haitians and does not reflect a policy change, only There is a continuation of common practices.
The Federal Aviation Administration, acting on a Border Patrol request, prohibits drone flights around the bridge until September 30, generally at or below 1,000 feet (305 m) for security or law enforcement purposes. Is.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and frequent critic of President Joe Biden, said federal officials told him that migrants under the bridge would be taken by the Defense Department to Arizona, California and elsewhere on the Texas border.
Some Haitians in the camp have lived for some time in Mexican cities along the US border, often moving between them, while others have recently arrived after being trapped near Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, according to the advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance. Legal Director Nicole Phillips said. . A sense of desperation spread after the Biden administration ended its practice of daily accepting asylum-seeking migrants who were deemed particularly vulnerable.
“People are panicking about how they take refuge,” Phillips said.
Edgar Rodriguez, an attorney at the Casa del Migrant migrant shelter in Piedras Negras, north of Del Rio, observed an increase of Haitians in the region two or three weeks ago and believes misinformation may have played a role. Migrants often decide on false rumors that policies are about to change and enforcement policies vary by city.
US officials are under severe scrutiny after Biden quickly ended the Trump administration’s policies that Biden deemed cruel or inhumane, especially to asylum seekers while awaiting a US immigration court hearing. Requires residency in Mexico. Such migrants have faced extreme violence in Mexico and exceptional difficulty finding lawyers.
The US Supreme Court last month upheld a judge’s order to reinstate the policy, although Mexico must agree to its terms. The Justice Department said in a court filing this week that discussions with the Mexican government were ongoing.
An epidemiological order to immediately expel migrants without the opportunity to seek asylum, introduced in March 2020, is in effect, but exempts unaccompanied children and many families. During his first month in office, Biden opted to exempt children traveling alone on humanitarian grounds.
The US government has been unable to expel many Central American families because Mexican officials refuse to admit them to Tamaulipas, which is across Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. On Friday, the administration said it would appeal a judge’s Thursday ruling that barred it from invoking Title 42, the same as known authority to any family related to the pandemic.
Mexico has agreed to only take families expelled from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, creating an opportunity for Haitians and other nationalities as the US lacks the resources to detain them and allow them to return to their homes. On flights to home has been quickly expelled.
In August, US officials stopped migrants nearly 209,000 times at the border, close to a 20-year high, although many of the stops repeatedly involved crossers because of no legal consequences for being expelled under Title 42 authorization. are not.
Those visiting families were intercepted 86,487 times in August, but less than one in every five encounters resulted in expulsion under Title 42. The rest were processed under immigration laws, which usually means they were released with a court date or notice. To report to immigration authorities.
US officials stopped Haitians 7,580 times in August, a figure that has increased every month since August 2020, when they stopped by only 55. There has been a large increase of Ecuador, Venezuela and other nationalities outside the traditional sending countries of Mexico, Guatemala. Honduras and El Salvador.
The details were yet to be finalized, but will likely include five to eight flights per day, starting Sunday, according to an official with direct knowledge of the plans authorized to discuss the matter publicly. and spoke to the Associated Press on this condition. Oblivion. San Antonio, nearest major city by the river, where migrants have gathered, may be among the cities departing.
The official said on Friday that operational capacity and the willingness of Haiti would determine the number of flights, but that “good progress” was being made.
Another administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expected two flights per day, and said all migrants would be tested for COVID-19.
US officials closed the only border crossing in Del Rio to vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Friday, as the chaotic influx of migrants presented a new and immediate challenge to the administration as it struggles to manage the large numbers of asylum seekers. trying to. American soil.
US Customs and Border Protection said it was closing the border crossing with Ciudad Acua, Mexico, “to respond to urgent security and security needs.” Passengers were being directed to a crossing at Eagle Pass, 57 miles (91 km) away.
Haitians crossed the Rio Grande freely and in a steady stream on Friday, going back and forth between the US and Mexico through knee-deep waters, some parents carrying young children on their shoulders . Unable to buy supplies in the US, they briefly returned to Mexico for food and cardboard, temporarily, at least, under or near a bridge in Del Río, a city of 35,000 that had grown in recent months. has been severely affected by migrant flows.
Migrants pitched tents and built temporary shelters out of giant reeds known as carrizo canes. Many people took a bath in the river and washed their clothes.
Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens said Friday the vast majority of migrants on the bridge were Haitians, the county’s top elected official and whose jurisdiction includes Del Rio. Some families were under the bridge for six days.
Owens said the litter box was 10 feet (3.1 m) wide, and that at least two women had given birth, one of whom tested positive for COVID-19 after being taken to the hospital.
The county’s sheriff, Frank Joe Martinez, estimated the crowd to be 13,700 and said more Haitians were traveling from Mexico by bus.
The flight plan, while potentially massive, hinges on how the Haitians respond. They may have to decide whether to live at risk of being sent back to a poor homeland ravaged by poverty and political instability, or returning to Mexico. Unaccompanied children are exempt from fast-track eviction.
About 500 Haitians were ordered to be disembarked by Mexican immigration officials in Tamaulipas state, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) south of the Texas border, the state government said in a news release Friday. They proceeded towards the border on foot.
Haitians have been migrating to the US in large numbers from South America for many years, with many leaving their Caribbean nation after the devastating 2010 earthquake. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus and car to the US border, including the infamous Darren Gap, a Panamanian jungle.
It is unclear how such large numbers accumulated so quickly, although many Haitians have gathered in camps on the Mexican side of the border, including from San Diego to Tijuana, to decide whether to enter the United States. to try or not.
The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. “We will address it accordingly,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Meyercas said Friday on MSNBC.
an officer in the president Joe BidenThe U.S. administration, which was not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the action is not specifically targeting Haitians and does not reflect a policy change, only There is a continuation of common practices.
The Federal Aviation Administration, acting on a Border Patrol request, prohibits drone flights around the bridge until September 30, generally at or below 1,000 feet (305 m) for security or law enforcement purposes. Is.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and frequent critic of President Joe Biden, said federal officials told him that migrants under the bridge would be taken by the Defense Department to Arizona, California and elsewhere on the Texas border.
Some Haitians in the camp have lived for some time in Mexican cities along the US border, often moving between them, while others have recently arrived after being trapped near Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, according to the advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance. Legal Director Nicole Phillips said. . A sense of desperation spread after the Biden administration ended its practice of daily accepting asylum-seeking migrants who were deemed particularly vulnerable.
“People are panicking about how they take refuge,” Phillips said.
Edgar Rodriguez, an attorney at the Casa del Migrant migrant shelter in Piedras Negras, north of Del Rio, observed an increase of Haitians in the region two or three weeks ago and believes misinformation may have played a role. Migrants often decide on false rumors that policies are about to change and enforcement policies vary by city.
US officials are under severe scrutiny after Biden quickly ended the Trump administration’s policies that Biden deemed cruel or inhumane, especially to asylum seekers while awaiting a US immigration court hearing. Requires residency in Mexico. Such migrants have faced extreme violence in Mexico and exceptional difficulty finding lawyers.
The US Supreme Court last month upheld a judge’s order to reinstate the policy, although Mexico must agree to its terms. The Justice Department said in a court filing this week that discussions with the Mexican government were ongoing.
An epidemiological order to immediately expel migrants without the opportunity to seek asylum, introduced in March 2020, is in effect, but exempts unaccompanied children and many families. During his first month in office, Biden opted to exempt children traveling alone on humanitarian grounds.
The US government has been unable to expel many Central American families because Mexican officials refuse to admit them to Tamaulipas, which is across Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. On Friday, the administration said it would appeal a judge’s Thursday ruling that barred it from invoking Title 42, the same as known authority to any family related to the pandemic.
Mexico has agreed to only take families expelled from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, creating an opportunity for Haitians and other nationalities as the US lacks the resources to detain them and allow them to return to their homes. On flights to home has been quickly expelled.
In August, US officials stopped migrants nearly 209,000 times at the border, close to a 20-year high, although many of the stops repeatedly involved crossers because of no legal consequences for being expelled under Title 42 authorization. are not.
Those visiting families were intercepted 86,487 times in August, but less than one in every five encounters resulted in expulsion under Title 42. The rest were processed under immigration laws, which usually means they were released with a court date or notice. To report to immigration authorities.
US officials stopped Haitians 7,580 times in August, a figure that has increased every month since August 2020, when they stopped by only 55. There has been a large increase of Ecuador, Venezuela and other nationalities outside the traditional sending countries of Mexico, Guatemala. Honduras and El Salvador.
.