The government of President Biden
plans to begin on Sunday the large-scale expulsion
of Haitian migrants crowded in a small Texas border town with dozens of flights to the Caribbean country, an official source told The Associated Press (AP).
Val Verde County Sheriff Frank Joe Martínez estimated that
there are at least 13,700 people
, most of them from Haiti, waiting in subhuman conditions to enter the United States through the Del Rio International Bridge and said that more Haitians will arrive by buses from different parts of Mexico.
Migrants wait under the Del Río International Bridge to be processed by border authorities.Caleb Olvera / Telemundo
The arrival of these migrants has multiplied in an unusual way in recent days, causing a migration crisis that has put the US and Mexican authorities on alert.
"
We will address it accordingly
," National Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told MSNBC.
The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions from NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
The details of the expulsions are still unknown, but the official who spoke to the AP said there will be between 5 and 8 daily flights.
San Antonio, the closest major city to Del Rio, could be one of the main departure points for planes.
[Texas threatens to close the border to stop 8,000 migrants waiting under a bridge to request asylum]
Another Administration official who also spoke anonymously said however that he expected two flights a day at most and stated that
all migrants will be tested for COVID-19
.
US authorities closed vehicle and pedestrian traffic in both directions at the border crossing between Del Rio and the Mexican city of Ciudad Acuña after
chaos
broke out
on
Friday
.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the closure was due "to respond to
urgent security and safety needs
."
The travelers were being directed to Eagle Pass, Texas, 57 miles to the southeast.
Haitians have been
steadily and freely
crossing the Rio Grande
, back and forth between the United States and Mexico through knee-deep waters, with some fathers and mothers carrying their young children on their shoulders.
Federal authorities deny the governor of Texas and say they have no plans to close the border
Sept.
16, 202102: 35
Unable to buy supplies in the United States, they briefly return to Mexico in search of food and cardboard to settle, at least temporarily, under or near the bridge in Del Río, a city of 35,000 inhabitants that has been severely affected by the massive arrival. of migrants in recent months.
They have pitched tents and built makeshift shelters out of
giant reeds known as reeds.
Many bathe and wash their clothes in the river.
The vast majority of the migrants under the bridge on Friday were Haitians, said Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens, the area's top elected official whose jurisdiction includes Del Rio.
Some families have been there for up to six days.
"Yes, I am afraid [of being in this situation],
I am very afraid
, but I am following the path so that nothing happens to me" and to be able to reach the United States, a Haitian migrant who did not give his name told Noticias Telemundo.
[What are the consequences if I decide to stay in the US illegally?]
The
piles of garbage that accumulate
are more than 10 feet wide and at least two women have given birth under these circumstances, including one who tested positive for COVID-19 after being taken to a hospital, Owens said.
The subhuman conditions in which they all live put many to the limit.
“You pee anywhere, you relieve yourself anywhere.
If you bother with one, 7,000 will look at you.
So
we
Venezuelans and Cubans
are quite scared
, ”a Venezuelan migrant who spoke anonymously explained to Noticias Telemundo.
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States walk along the Rio Grande near the International Bridge on the border with Mexico while waiting to be processed, in Del Rio, Texas, September 16, 2021. Go Nakamura / REUTERS
This is "horrible," said Mairiani Busardo, from Venezuela. There is "thirsty, no food,
the children cry
, there are many mosquitoes [mosquitoes], some faint," he explained while holding a girl in the Rio Grande. .
The Biden government's plan depends on what Haitians choose to do.
They may have to choose between staying in the United States, at the risk of being returned to their impoverished country - ravaged by poverty, political instability after the assassination of their president and the recent earthquake - or returning to Mexico.
Unaccompanied children are excluded from express expulsions
.
[What does it mean if you called the court and they tell me my asylum case is closed or complete?]
Haitians have been emigrating to the United States from South America for several years
, many of them having left their country after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Following the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, in which many found employment, an unknown number undertook the dangerous journey on foot, by bus and by car to the southern border of the United States.
Until now, the reasons why so many migrants have accumulated at the Del Río border crossing in so few days have not transpired, although Haitian migrants have long been gathering in camps located on the Mexican side of the border, including in Tijuana, to wait for the moment to enter the country.
With information from AP
