Haitians on Texas border undeterred by U.S. expulsion plan

DEL RIO – Haitian migrants seeking to escape poverty, hunger and a sense of hopelessness in their home country said they are not deterred by US plans to send them back quickly as thousands of people arrive after crossing from Mexico Camped at the Texas border on Saturday.

Numerous people waded back and forth across the Rio Grande on Saturday afternoon and reentered Mexico to buy water, groceries and diapers in Ciudad Acuña before returning to the Texas camp under and near a bridge in the border town of Del Rio .

Junior Jean, a 32-year-old man from Haiti, watched people carefully carry boxes of water or bags of food through the knee-high river water. Jean said he had lived on the streets in Chile for the past four years and had resigned himself to looking for food in garbage cans.

“We’re all looking for a better life,” he said.

Haitian migrants carry provisions across a dam on the Rio Grande.(Eric Gay)

The Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that it had moved around 2,000 of the migrants from the camp on Friday for processing and possible deportation from the US to other locations, more if necessary.

The announcement was a quick response to the sudden arrival of Haitians and other migrants in Del Rio, a Texan city of about 35,000 people about 230 kilometers west of San Antonio. It is due to a relatively remote section of the border that is unable to accommodate and process such a large number of people.

Flights could start on Sunday

A US official told The Associated Press on Friday that the US would likely be flying migrants out of the country with five to eight flights a day as of Sunday, while another official expected no more than two a day, saying everyone was on COVID. would be tested -19. The first official said Haiti’s operational capacity and willingness to take flights would determine the number of flights. Both officers were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Several migrants, who were briefed on the US plans on Saturday, said they still wanted to stay in the camp and apply for asylum. Speaking of the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, some said they were afraid to return to a country that appears to be more unstable than when they left.

“There is no security in Haiti,” said Fabricio Jean, a 38-year-old Haitian who arrived with his wife and two daughters. “The country is in a political crisis.”

A national guard watches over a fence near the International Bridge at Del Rio, where thousands of Haitian migrants have set up a makeshift camp on Saturday, September 18, 2021.(Eric Gay)

Haitians have been immigrating to the US in large numbers from South America for several years, many leaving their Caribbean country after a devastating earthquake in 2010. After jobs were lost at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous route to the US border on foot, by bus, and by car, including through the infamous Darien Gap, a Panamanian jungle.

US Customs and Border Protection blocked vehicle and pedestrian traffic in both directions at the only border crossing between Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña on Friday “to respond to urgent security needs” and remained closed on Saturday. Travelers were directed to an intersection in Eagle Pass about 90 kilometers away for an indefinite period of time.

Estimates of the crowd varied, but Val Verde County Sheriff Frank Joe Martinez had said there were about 13,700 newcomers to Del Rio as of Friday. Migrants pitched tents and made makeshift shelters out of giant reeds known as carrizo canes. Many bathed and washed clothes in the river.

It is unclear how such a large number has accumulated so quickly, despite the fact that many Haitians have gathered in camps on the Mexican side of the border to wait while deciding whether to try to enter the US

The number of Haitian arrivals began to reach unsustainable levels for the border patrol in Del Rio about 2½ weeks ago, prompting the agency’s acting sector chief Robert Garcia to seek help from headquarters, another US official said who was not empowered to discuss the matter publicly.

Since then, the agency has transferred Haitians in buses and vans to other border guards in Texas, particularly in El Paso, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley. They are mostly processed outside of the pandemic authority, which means they can apply for asylum and stay in the US while their applications are examined. U.S. Immigration and Customs makes custody decisions, but families generally cannot be held for more than 20 days by court order.

The plan announced by Homeland Security on Saturday signals a switch to using a pandemic-related order to expel immediate deportation to Haiti without the option to apply for asylum, the official said.

The flight schedule, while potentially massive, depends on how Haitians react. They may have to decide whether to stay at the risk of being sent back to an impoverished homeland plagued by poverty and political instability or to return to Mexico. Unaccompanied children are exempt from expedited deportation.

Haitian migrants bathe and wash on the banks of the Rio Grande after entering the United States from Mexico.(Eric Gay)

The DHS said, “Our borders are not open and people shouldn’t make the dangerous journey.”

“Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, including deportation,” the agency wrote. “Irregular migration poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of the border communities and the lives of migrants themselves and should not be attempted.”

Monumental test for authorities

US authorities are undergoing rigorous testing after Democratic President Joe Biden quickly dismantled the Trump administration’s policies that Biden viewed as cruel or inhuman, particularly one that requires asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while they are on US immigration court hearings await.

The pandemic-related order introduced in March 2020 to immediately evict migrants without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum remains in force, but unaccompanied children and many families have been exempted. During his first month in office, Biden decided to exclude unaccompanied children on humanitarian grounds.

A Texas state soldier cordons off an area on the banks of the Rio Grande as Haitian migrants enter the United States from Mexico on Saturday.(Eric Gay)

Nicole Phillips, legal director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance advocacy group, said Saturday that the US government should process migrants and allow them to apply for asylum, rather than rush to deport them.

“It really is a humanitarian crisis,” said Phillips. “A lot needs to be helped now.”

Mexico’s immigration service said in a statement on Saturday that Mexico had opened a “permanent dialogue” with representatives of the Haitian government “to address the situation of irregular migratory flows during their entry and transit through Mexico and their assisted return”.

The agency did not state whether it was referring to the Haitians in Ciudad Acuña or the thousands others in Tapachula on the Guatemalan border, and the agency did not immediately respond to a request for more details.

In August, U.S. authorities stopped migrants at the border nearly 209,000 times, which was close to a 20-year high, although many of the stops involved repeated cross-border commuters as there are no legal ramifications for expulsion under the pandemic.

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