Topline
A makeshift Haitian migrant camp that held some 15,000 people under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, during the past week has been cleared, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday, but disturbing images of desperate Haitians’ plight are still causing an ongoing humanitarian and political crisis for President Joe Biden.
Key Facts
Most of the asylum seekers arrived in the U.S. after a dangerous journey from South America to the U.S.-Mexico border, with their growing numbers prompting the Department of Homeland Security to reiterate last weekend, "Our borders are not open."
The U.S. ramped up deportations to Haiti, and sent hundreds of Border Patrols agents to Del Rio to get a handle on the situation.
Images of Border Patrol agents on horseback using whip-like cords to keep Haitians from entering the country shocked many Americans, especially Biden's fellow Democrats, while Republicans blasted the president for not taking a tougher stance on illegal immigration.
Of the 15,000 migrants who were in the camp earlier this week, about 8,000 "voluntarily" crossed the Rio Grande back into Mexico, and 2,000 were deported to Haiti, Mayorkas said, while the other 5,000 have been moved to other locations as they await removal proceedings.
Another camp across the Rio Grande in Acuna, Mexico, that many migrants had used as a staging area before coming to the U.S. was reportedly cleared out by Mexican authorities on Friday, after they warned Haitians remaining there that they would be sent to a city on Mexico's southern border with Guatemala for processing.
Daniel Foote, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti, resigned on Thursday over the decision to deport some of the migrants to Haiti, which he characterized as "inhumane" given the instability in the country following the assassination of its president and a devastating earthquake.
