Migration from Haiti: Joe Biden condemns mounted US border guards: "These people will atone"

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Biden threatened the border police with consequences

Photo: Al Drago / imago images / UPI Photo

Mounted border police have used force against people from Haiti in the state of Texas on the border with Mexico.

The behavior caused a stir nationally.

Now US President Joe Biden has harshly criticized the behavior.

"That's outrageous," Biden said to journalists at the White House.

"I promise you, these people will atone," says the president, adding that there will be consequences.

Photos and videos of the deployment of mounted border guards near the Texan city of Del Rio on the border with Mexico caused outrage at the beginning of the week.

One of the things that could be seen was how a policeman on horseback grabs a Haitian by his T-shirt.

In other pictures it looks as if police officers are threateningly swinging their long reins.

Many felt reminded by the scenes of times when police officers on horseback or prison guards in the USA used whips to crack down on black people.

Biden's spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday that the recordings were "terrible" to look at.

The government also came under pressure from within the ranks of Biden's Democratic Party.

The Department of Homeland Security has temporarily stopped the use of mounted border patrols in the area.

Many Haitians want to stay in Mexico after the deportations

In view of the deportation from the USA, thousands of Haitians are now trying to get papers in Mexico.

In Tapachula on the border with Guatemala, in Monterrey in northern Mexico and in the capital Mexico City, long queues formed on Friday in front of the offices of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar).

“After seeing what happened at the US border, I don't want to go there again.

I want to live here in Mexico.

But we need papers to be able to work, «said the 27-year-old Haitian Marcius Marckenson of the dpa news agency in Tapachula.

“I'm running out of money.

I sleep on the street. "

Many Haitians now want to stay in Mexico for the time being, work and wait until the situation at the US border calms down.

"I want to go to the United States one day, but if I can get papers I would work in Mexico for two or three years," said another Haitian in Tapachula.

Most Haitians came to Mexico via South and Central America.

Some of them had lived in Brazil or Chile for years before they made their way to the USA.

Between January and August of this year, 77,559 asylum applications were made in Mexico.

However, it takes a long time to process, as the Mexican authorities can only process around 5000 applications per month.

The UN refugee agency called for alternatives for the migrants, who are often not entitled to asylum.

kim / dpa / AFP