Migrants In Texas: Thousands Moved To Processing Centres - BBC

Home » How Far Is Haiti From Texas » Migrants In Texas: Thousands Moved To Processing Centres - BBC

Maybe your like

Skip to content
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Health
  • Culture
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Earth
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Live
HomeNewsSportBusinessTechnologyHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveWeatherNewslettersMigrants in Texas: Thousands moved to processing centres19 September 2021ShareSaveShareSave
Thousands of people are camped out at the US-Mexico border bridge in poor conditions

US officials have moved thousands of migrants away from a Texas border town that has seen an influx of mostly Haitian migrants over the past week.

More than 10,000 people had gathered under a bridge connecting Del Rio in Texas to Mexico's Ciudad Acuña.

Local officials have struggled to provide them with food and adequate sanitation.

Some 2,000 people were moved to immigration and processing stations on Friday.

The US government says it plans to fly the migrants back to where they began their journeys.

Flights are expected to start on Sunday, with the US currently negotiating returns with the countries in question.

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry sent support to the migrants on social media late on Saturday, saying "arrangements have already been made" to welcome those who return.

But some migrants say they are afraid to return. "In Haiti, there is no security," Fabricio Jean, 38, who is at the camp with his wife and two daughters, told the Associated Press. "The country is in a political crisis."

"There's people killing each other in Haiti, there's just no justice," another father of two, 29-year-old Stelin Jean told the Texas Tribune. "I just want to live a calm life without any problems, I want to live somewhere where I know there's justice."

  • Haiti president's assassination: What we know so far
  • Tensions rise in Haiti after deadly earthquake

The US Department for Homeland Security said in a statement that the transfers will continue "in order to ensure that irregular migrants are swiftly taken into custody, processed and removed from the United States consistent with our laws and policy".

It added that US Customs and Border Protection is sending 400 additional agents to Del Rio, a city with a population of roughly 35,000.

EPA Migrants cross the Rio Grande on the US - Mexico borderEPA
The US government says it plans to fly the migrants back to where they began their journeys

Del Rio's Mayor Bruno Lozano has declared a state of emergency, and described the situation as "unprecedented" and "surreal". He said border patrol had been overwhelmed and that "agitated" migrants were living in impossible conditions.

The makeshift camp at Del Rio has few basic services, and migrants waiting in temperatures of 37C (99F), have been wading back across the river into Mexico to get supplies.

  • What is Biden doing differently at US border?
  • Joe Biden's 'big problem' at the US border

The migrants are mostly Haitians, with some Cubans, Peruvians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans also present.

Many Haitians left the country after a devastating earthquake in 2010, and a large number of those in the camp had been living in Brazil or other South American countries and travelled north after being unable to secure jobs or legal status.

Cubans too have been fleeing the island's worst economic crisis since shortly after the end of the Cold War, the BBC's Mexico correspondent Will Grant reports.

He says many of the migrants in Texas have made probably the most treacherous migrant journey in Latin America by crossing the thick jungle of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama on foot.

The US government has reported a surge of migrants at the border with Mexico this year.

The number of migrants detained there in July exceeded 200,000 for the first time in 21 years, according to government data.

US 'set to fly back' Haitian migrant arrivals

US-Mexico border migrant levels reach 21-year high

HaitiUS immigrationMexicoTexasUnited StatesMigrationRelated

Judge temporarily blocks axing deportation protections for Haitian migrants

Scotland to play World Cup games in Boston & Miami

'Buzzing' Scots have 'point to prove' at World Cup

More from the BBC51 mins agoAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor sits in a suit, being interview by Emily Maitlis

Watch: How Andrew's BBC interview compares to what Epstein emails tell us now

Following the latest release of the Epstein files, claims made by the then Prince Andrew in 2019 are under fresh scrutiny.

51 mins ago52 mins agoMark Rubio in black coat with suit and tie talks to reporters

Rubio warns Europe of new era in geopolitics before big Munich speech

The US Secretary of State will address the first major transatlantic meeting since Donald Trump threatened to annex Greenland.

52 mins ago2 hrs agoAn image of the suspect in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie - a person is seen close up in black and white, wearing a balaclava and holding an obscured item in their left hand, which we can see has a black glove covering it

FBI releases description of suspect in Nancy Guthrie kidnapping

The 84-year-old mother of news anchor Savannah Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home two weeks ago.

2 hrs ago11 hrs agoA damp sidewalk in New York City being crossed by men and women carrying shopping bags.

Costs from Trump's tariffs paid mainly by US firms and consumers, NY Fed says

Last year, collective import tariff rates on various goods coming into the US more than tripled.

11 hrs ago12 hrs agoNancy Guthrie and Savannah Guthrie appear on NBC's Today programme

What we know about the abduction of Savannah Guthrie's mother

It's been days since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie disappeared in the middle of night from her home in Arizona.

12 hrs ago

Tag » How Far Is Haiti From Texas