LatestAlyssa GoodmanComment

Haitian migrants flock to small Texas border city

LatestAlyssa GoodmanComment
Haitian migrants flock to small Texas border city

Thousands of Haitian migrants flocked to a small Texas border city, presenting the Biden administration with a challenge as it tries to manage large numbers of asylum-seekers.

U.S. authorities have moved to expel many of the more 12,000 migrants who were camped around a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. Officials are also trying to to block others from crossing the border from Mexico. 

It’s a massive show of force that signals the beginning of what could be one of America’s swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants or refugees in decades. 

In recent days, many Haitians crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. Some then waded back through the river to buy supplies in Mexico before returning to the Texas encampment. 

Haitian migrants use a dam to cross to and from the United States from Mexico, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Haitian migrants use a dam to cross to and from the United States from Mexico, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Haitian migrants bathe and do laundry along the banks of the Rio Grand after they crossed into the United States from Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Haitian migrants bathe and do laundry along the banks of the Rio Grand after they crossed into the United States from Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A migrant woman holds her child as she waits in a makeshift camp with others after crossing the Rio Grande to the United States from Mexico, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Haitians carried boxes on their heads filled with food as they crossed the river. Some removed their pants before getting into the river and carried them, while others were unconcerned about getting wet.

Haitians have been migrating to the U.S. in large numbers from South America for several years, many having left their Caribbean nation after a devastating 2010 earthquake. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus and car to the U.S. border.

Some of the migrants at the Del Rio camp said a recent devastating earthquake in Haiti and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse make them afraid to return to a country that seems more unstable than when they left.