Workers clear particles from the website of a makeshift border migrant camp along the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas, U.S. September 24, 2021.
Adrees Latif|Reuters
No migrants stay at a border camp under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, where thousands, the majority of them Haitian nationals, had actually collected in current days, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated at a White House press instructionFriday
The statement comes as the Biden administration deals with prevalent criticism for its handling of a boost in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. authorities have actually experienced almost 30,000 migrants in Del Rio given thatSept 9, according toMayorkas At one point, 15,000 migrants, primarily Haitians, were encamped under the bridge linking Del Rio with Ciudad Acuna,Mexico Yesterday, the administration revealed that there were less than 5,000 individuals staying at the camp.
“As of this morning, there are no longer any migrants in the camp underneath the Del Rio International Bridge,” Mayorkas stated at the White House.
Approximately 2,000 Haitian nationals have actually been reclaimed to Haiti on 17 repatriation flights arranged by the DHS, according toMayorkas
An approximated 8,000 went back to Mexico willingly and more than 5,000 are being processed by the DHS to figure out if they need to be put in migration elimination procedures or expelled through a public health law referred to as Title 42, Mayorkas stated.
Approximately 12,400 migrants will ultimately have their cases heard by a migration judge who will figure out whether they will be deported or stay in the U.S., he included.
Title 42, very first carried out by previous President Donald Trump at the start of the pandemic, rejects specific migrants the chance to make an application for asylum. Mayorkas protected the Biden administration’s usage of the policy to send out Haitian nationals back toHaiti
“We are doing this out of a public health need. It is not an immigration policy,” Mayorkas stated, keeping in mind that Title 42 is not particular to Haitian migrants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chose in August that Title 42 would stay in location up until it figures out that there is no longer a risk of Covid-19 being brought throughout the border into the U.S.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas goes over the examination into the treatment of Haitian migrants as he resolves the day-to-day instruction in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, September 24, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein|Reuters
Mayorkas likewise condemned the scenes in many images and video illustrating Border Patrol representatives on horseback grabbing Haitian migrants attempting to cross into the U.S., which led the Biden administration to stop representatives’ usage of horses in Del Rio on Thursday.
“Those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism,” Mayorkas stated, including that they “raised serious questions about what occurred.”
The DHS has actually introduced an examination into the occasions that were recorded in the images and video, Mayorkas stated. The representatives included have actually been appointed to administrative responsibilities and are not connecting with migrants while the examination is being carried out, he included.
Earlier Friday, President Joe Biden knocked the Border Patrol representatives for their treatment of the Haitian migrants in Del Rio, promising they will deal with repercussions for their actions.
“It’s horrible what you saw. To see people like they did, with horses, running them over, people being strapped, it’s outrageous,” Biden stated at the White House.
“I promise you, those people will pay. There is an investigation underway right now, and there will be consequences,” he stated.
When inquired about the president’s vow that the representatives would be penalized, Mayorkas stated he is going to “let the investigation run its course.”
“I know the president was echoing sentiments of the American public response, images and what those images suggest, but I want to speak to the fact that this investigation will be based on facts that the investigators learn,” Mayorkas stated.
