More than 10,000 migrants packed under Texas
bridge, number still rising
Most of the migrants are Haitian, have been living in
South America and came to Del Rio, Texas, along a common Mexican cartel
smuggling route.
Sept. 17,
2021, 2:32 PM CEST
By Julia
Ainsley
WASHINGTON
— More than 10,000 migrants, most of them Haitian, are packed under an overpass
bridge in Del Rio, Texas, as U.S. border agents struggle to keep up with the
surge in the area, according to two senior Department of Homeland Security
officials.
Many of the
Haitian migrants have not come directly from the island nation to the U.S., but
rather have been living in South America and have been brought to Del Rio along
a common smuggling route used by a Mexican cartel, the officials said.
The numbers
under the bridge have ballooned over the past 48 hours, growing from around
5,000 on Wednesday and are expected to rise above 11,000 on Friday, they said.
Migrants
arriving at the makeshift processing center under the bridge are given
emergency supplies like water and infant formula and are processed before being
taken to a Border Patrol station or Immigration and Customs Enforcement
custody.
Customs and
Border Protection does not test migrants in its custody for Covid unless they
show symptoms.
In August,
at the same bridge in Del Rio, NBC News asked Raul Ortiz, then deputy chief of
CBP, why it doesn't test migrants. He said that non-governmental organizations
test migrants when they leave CBP custody because, “As you can see, we’re
already overwhelmed here.” The size of the crowd under the bridge was then
about 100.
The Biden
administration granted Temporary Protected Status to Haitians already living in
the U.S. in May, due to natural disasters and political unrest in the country.
But the order does not protect new arrivals. In fact, ICE has begun deporting
Haitians back to their country, angering advocates who say more should be given
a chance at asylum in the United States due to the country’s upheaval.
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