More than ten thousand migrants were camping on Saturday, September 18, under a bridge on the southern border of the United States. They arrived in Del Rio, Texas, crossing the Rio Grande. From less than 2,000 at the start of the week, they are now more than 14,800, according to the mayor of this border town, Bruno Lozano. These migrants “Are mainly from Haiti (…), they are just waiting to be stopped by the border guards ” to start the procedures for authorization to stay, he explained in a video posted on Twitter on Friday.
The democratic councilor, who expects thousands more arrivals, declared a state of emergency on Friday and closed the bridge to traffic.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Saturday that it would “Obtain additional transport to accelerate the pace and increase the capacity of deportation flights to Haiti and other destinations”, in the next seventy-two hours.
The ministry was already leading “Deportations as well as flights to Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador and the countries of the northern triangle [Honduras, Salvador et Guatemala] », he clarified. US borders « are not open and no one should take this dangerous trip ”, assured the Biden administration, in response in particular to criticism from Republicans who accuse the Democratic president of having created a draft by promising a migration policy “More human”.
“Illegal immigration poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of residents near the border and to the lives of migrants themselves”, insisted the ministry in its press release.
Special treatment for families
“Today there has been a major change in strategy”, reacted the mayor of Del Rio to the media on Saturday. “The Del Rio region receives a lot more funding. “We will see more buses arriving here” to take migrants to other border guard centers, where their files can be examined, as well as planes for deportations, the mayor continued.
US Border Police (CBP) sent 400 additional officers to the scene to“Improve surveillance of the area”, said the Department of Homeland Security, unveiling on Saturday a plan to contain the situation.
The day before, the border guards had assured that they had increased their numbers in order to cope “Safe, humane and orderly” to the situation and have distributed drinking water, towels and portable toilets to migrants. Once taken care of, “The vast majority of adults arriving alone and many families will be turned away under a sanitary rule” adopted at the start of the Covid-19 epidemic to limit the spread of the virus, they added.
However, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the government not to turn back families in this context, which could complicate the task of the authorities, already faced with historic migratory flows on the border with Mexico. The government appealed the decision on Friday.
Joe Biden criticized, including by his camp
The images of these migrants massed under a bridge, in the heat, have in recent days pushed the Republican opposition, but also Democratic voices, to urge the president to act without delay.
More than 1.3 million migrants have been arrested at the border with Mexico since the arrival of Joe Biden at the White House, a level unprecedented in twenty years. The Republican opposition has accused the president for months of provoking a “Migration crisis” by relaxing the measures of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
The situation in Del Rio offered him new arguments. After going there, Republican Senator Ted Cruz denounced “A disaster caused by Joe Biden”. According to him, migrants end up under the bridge “Because the president made the political decision to cancel the deportation flights to Haiti” after the assassination in July of President Jovenel Moïse. The senator reiterated his criticisms on Twitter Saturday, after went to Del Rio on the weekend: “No one witnessing what is really going on can believe that Biden’s inhumane policies make sense. “
Haitians still form a minority of arrivals in the United States, but their number has been increasing for several months. Many nationals of this poor and unstable country left their country after the earthquake of 2010 (which killed more than 200,000) and settled in Latin America, particularly in Brazil. But finding work and renewing a residence permit has become complicated for thousands of them who have headed north.
Sensitive to their difficulties, several Democratic voices have been raised in recent days to ask the administration of Mr. Biden to quickly resolve the situation in Del Rio. “These Haitian migrants have already suffered a lot during the dangerous journey to our border, thus tweeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a figure of the left wing of the party. The lack of eagerness to come to their aid is alarming. “
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