All the migrants who gathered under a bridge in the city of Del Rio, Texas, have left their makeshift encampment, US Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas said on Friday, September 24, as the government is entangled in a new migration crisis at the border with Mexico.
"Today, we have no more migrants in the encampment under the bridge"
, which counted up to 15,000 people including many Haitians at the end of last week, said Alejandro Mayorkas during a press conference in the White House.
Read alsoUnited States: a photo of migrants tracked down by border guards on horseback sparks outrage
About 2,000 people were deported by plane to Haiti, 8,000 returned voluntarily to Mexico, 5,000 were transferred to accommodation centers and 12,400 were able to leave the site and will have to appear before an immigration judge to defend their claim. asylum, he said.
In total, according to Alejandro Mayorkas, 30,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, have arrived since September 9 in the small border town of Texas, where they were living in the heat and unsanitary conditions after crossing the Rio Grande from the Mexican city of Ciudad Acuña. This massive influx of migrants and the treatment suffered by some, pushed back by border police officers on horseback as they crossed the river, drew an avalanche of criticism from the Biden administration, deemed inhuman by the left and lax. from the right.
In a snapshot taken on Sunday by a photographer employed by AFP, a border guard on horseback grabs a man by his t-shirt on the American shore. On another, he keeps a group at bay by twirling his reins, in a threatening posture, to force them to turn back. These pictures, which have been around the world, have caused a stir in the United States. Some saw migrants there equated to cattle, others recalled the mistreatment of African Americans by mounted police, prison guards or slave owners. Joe Biden, who had not yet spoken in public on the subject, promised Friday that these agents would
"pay"
for these
"scandalous"
acts
.
It is more than embarrassing.
It's dangerous.
It's bad.
It sends the wrong message to the world, the wrong message to us.
"
Joe biden
Asked if he took responsibility for the
"chaos"
at the border, Joe Biden replied Friday:
"Of course I take responsibility. I am the president. It was horrible (...) to see people treated that way. ”
“It's embarrassing,”
he said before recovering.
“It's more than embarrassing. It's dangerous. It's bad. It sends the wrong message to the world, the wrong message to us. ” "It's not who we are,"
said the Democrat, who had promised during his campaign to treat immigration issues humanely, to distinguish himself from a Donald Trump who swore only by repression and construction of a wall on the border.
Read alsoSignation of the American envoy to Haiti, who denounces the "inhuman" expulsions of migrants
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki then defended the president's muscular remarks, citing
"a very human and visceral response to these images
.
"
The Democratic left wing denounces the expulsion of Haitians to a country plunged into a political, security and humanitarian crisis.
These expulsions, authorized under the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, "
are dictated by public health imperatives,"
assured Alejandro Mayorkas.
The government has not behaved in an
"immoral" way
, he added, stressing that the right to asylum was governed by strict rules.
The right criticizes the laxity of the authorities which, according to it, causes a call for air at the southern border.
"Instead of responding to the border crisis that he created and actively encouraged, President Biden blindly joins the radical left in making hasty judgments and attacking the women and men who are tasked with protecting our borders,"
he said. launched the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
