Migrants flown out of Texas border city after thousands cross Rio Grande

DEL RIO, Texas / CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico, Sept. 19 (Reuters) – U.S. authorities on Sunday flew migrants out of a Texas border town where thousands of mostly Haitians gathered under a bridge after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico had.

Reuters journalists saw a white bus escorted by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents enter Del Rio Airport and then a group board a Coast Guard plane. A police source said the people were migrants and a source familiar with airport operations said the plane was going to El Paso, Texas.

Meanwhile, Tom Cartwright of Witness at the Border advocacy group, which tracks U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) flights, told Reuters that three flights departed Texas on Sunday – one from Laredo and two from San Antonio – heading for Haitians Haiti brought.

ICE spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Saturday that it was accelerating deportation to Haiti, deploying more CBP agents to the area and taking other steps to address the humanitarian and political challenges posed by thousands of people living in increasingly dire conditions The bridge that connects Del Rio with Ciudad Acuña in Mexico is looking for protection.

Officials on both sides of the border said most of the migrants were from Haiti.

Reuters saw a dozen law enforcement officers on the U.S. side of the border on Sunday, some on horseback. A Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) helicopter circled overhead and a yellow ribbon reading “Do Not Cross Sheriff’s Line” was hung.

The Haitian Jean Agenord, his Chilean wife Makarena Vines and their 17-month-old son were prevented from crossing on Sunday.

Agenord, with his arms on a cardboard box with his feet still in the water, told Reuters the family had spent all their money and had nowhere to stay in Mexico.

“I can’t go over here, I can’t go over there,” he said. “What should I do?”

The couple asked locals if they knew of any place to stay in Mexico and said they would try to cross again.

The dam on the Mexican side was littered with bottles of water and take-away boxes, signs of the many people who had crossed the river to the United States waiting for immigration to settle. Migrants had waded back to Mexico to buy supplies for the camp under the bridge but did not appear to be doing so on Sunday.

‘ACCESS IS BLOCKED’

Reuters couldn’t get close to the area where Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano said in a video on Saturday night that just over 14,000 migrants were camping.

“Access to the river is blocked,” said the Haitian migrant Eddyson Langlais (24) on Sunday morning via text message to Reuters. “They gave water and a small snack last night. I don’t know for today.”

Many Haitians on the border who spoke to Reuters said they left their troubled homeland and settled in South America first. They recently moved north because they were unable to obtain legal status or struggled with racism and securing decent jobs.

The DHS said Saturday it would accelerate migrant flights to Haiti and other destinations for the next 72 hours. It said the US authorities moved around 2,000 people from Del Rio to other US immigration stations on Friday and are continuing to relocate migrants “to ensure that irregular migrants are expeditiously detained, processed and removed in accordance with ours laws and policies are deported to the United States. “

The DHS added that it was working with countries where migrants began their journey – for many Haitians, countries like Brazil and Chile – to take in returned migrants.

Cartwright of Witness at the Border raised concerns about the return of migrants to Haiti. The impoverished nation’s president was assassinated in July, and a major earthquake and storm struck the country in August. COVID-19 is also a cause for concern, said Cartwright.

“Haiti did not have a robust health system before the earthquake,” he said. “And the fact that we send people back, especially if they haven’t been tested and haven’t tested negative, would be a serious problem.”

A comprehensive public health ordinance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, known as Title 42, enacted at the start of the coronavirus pandemic under the Trump administration, allows for the rapid expulsion of most migrants without the possibility of asylum apply for. President Joe Biden has maintained this rule even though he has released unaccompanied minors and his government has not expelled most families.

A judge ruled Thursday that the policy cannot apply to families, but the ruling will not go into effect for two weeks and the Biden government has appealed.

Usually, migrants can stand at the border and apply for asylum, which leads to a long court process. The Trump administration has cut protective measures, arguing that many asylum applications are false.

The Biden government provided temporary aid to around 150,000 Haitians in the United States earlier this year and protected them from deportation. This relief does not apply to newcomers. Deportation and deportation differ technically – deportation is much faster.

Reporting by Daina Solomon in Ciudad Acuña and Alexandra Ulmer in Del Rio; Additional reporting from Maria Caspani, Kristina Cooke and Mica Rosenberg; Edited by Donna Bryson and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.