The American government of Joe Biden announced on Saturday that it would accelerate the rate of expulsions by plane of more than 10,000 exiles, especially Haitians, gathered for several days under a bridge in Texas after crossing the border from Mexico.
These exiles arrived in Del Rio, Texas, crossing the Rio Grande River. From less than 2,000 at the start of the week, they were more than 10,500 on Friday, according to figures communicated by the mayor of this border town, Bruno Lozano, who expects many new arrivals.
In a statement, the US Department of Homeland Security announced it would “Obtain additional transport to speed up the pace and increase the capacity of deportation flights to Haiti and other destinations”, within the next 72 hours.
The spectacular images of these people massed under a bridge in the heat have in recent days pushed the Republican opposition but also Democratic voices to urge Joe Biden to resolve the situation without delay.
The Democratic mayor of Del Rio declared a state of emergency and closed the bridge to traffic on Friday.
In addition to the political unrest and insecurity that already raged in Haiti, in August a deadly earthquake devastated the southwest of the country, killing more than 2,200 inhabitants. 650,000 people, including 260,000 children and adolescents, continue to need “emergency humanitarian aid”, according to Unicef.
US border police, CBP, sent 400 additional officers to “to improve surveillance of the area”, said the Ministry of Internal Security, unveiling on Saturday a plan to contain the situation.
The ministry was already leading “deportations as well as flights to Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador and the countries of the northern triangle”, Honduras, Salvador and Guatemala, he said.
The Biden administration recalled “that our borders are not open and that no one should take this dangerous journey”, as in response to criticism from Republicans who accuse the Democratic president of having created a draft by promising a migration policy “more human”.
“Migration crisis”
“Illegal immigration poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of residents near the border and to the lives of migrants themselves”, hammered the ministry in its press release.
The border guards assured to have distributed drinking water, towels and portable toilets to the exiles.
“The vast majority of migrants continue to be deported under” of a health rule adopted at the start of the pandemic to limit the spread of the virus, said Homeland Security.
A federal judge, however, ordered the government on Thursday to no longer deport families in this context, which could complicate the task of the authorities, already faced with historic migratory flows on the border with Mexico. The government appealed the decision on Friday.
Among the other exiles, those who have no “legal reasons for staying” are subject to the ordinary eviction regime, the statement said. Some 2,000 exiles were sent to other centers on Friday for border police to process “quickly” their files and “expel them” if applicable.
More than 1.3 million exiles have been arrested on the border with Mexico since Joe Biden arrived at the White House in January, a level not seen in 20 years.
The Republican opposition has accused President Biden for months of provoking a “migration crisis” by relaxing the measures of his predecessor Donald Trump, who had made the fight against illegal immigration his hobbyhorse.
Reference-feedproxy.google.com