Over 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants sleeping under Texas bridge, more expected

Record ID: 1637475

  • Title: Over 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants sleeping under Texas bridge, more expected
  • Date: 18th September 2021
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC AFTER THE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE U.S. IS CLOSED DOWN DEL RIO, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 17, 2021) (REUTERS) POLICE OFFICER WALKING TOWARDS TRAFFIC BUILD-UP AT CLOSED BORDER POLICE VEHICLES PARKED AT CLOSED BORDER VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC AFTER THE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE U.S. IS CLOSED DOWN VARIOUS OF PEDESTRIANS AND MOTORISTS WAITING POLICE OFFICERS TELLING DRIVERS STUCK IN TRAFFIC TO TURN BACK AS BORDER IS CLOSED
  • Embargoed: 2nd October 2021 11:41
  • Keywords: Ciudad Acuña Del Rio Immigration Mexico Texas asylum makeshift camp migrants migrants under bridge
  • Location: CIUDAD ACUÑA, MEXICO AND DEL RIO, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • City: CIUDAD ACUÑA, MEXICO AND DEL RIO, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA003EV8WMYV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: More than 10,000 primarily Haitian migrants were bivouacked in a squalid camp under a bridge in southern Texas on Friday (September 17), even as hundreds more headed toward the border in a growing humanitarian and political challenge for U.S. President Joe Biden.
    The Haitians were joined by Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans under the Del Rio International Bridge across the Rio Grande connecting Ciudad Acuña in Mexico to Del Rio, Texas.
    They slept under light blankets while a few pitched small tents.
    Officials on both sides of the U.S.- Mexico border said the majority of the migrants were Haitians and more are expected to arrive.
    Most of the people Reuters spoke with had not come directly from Haiti but had made long and harrowing journeys through Mexico and Central and South America.
    In Ciudad Acuña, two workers at the main bus terminal said at least two dozen buses full of Haitians had arrived on Friday, with one putting the estimate of individual arrivals at around 1,100.
    A Mexican official said the number of migrants was about 12,000 on Friday afternoon.
    Reuters saw dozens of mostly Haitian migrants arriving at the terminal, carrying jugs of water, tightly-packed backpacks and folders containing travel documents. Many said they soon planned to head across the shallow Rio Grande.
    The U.S. authorities plan to put the Haitians in Del Rio on flights back to Haiti under a public health law known as Title 42, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Lewis G. Owens, a judge in Val Verde County, and an anonymous Biden administration official.
    In the Del Rio area, Reuters witnessed hundreds of migrants wading through the knee-high Rio Grande back into Mexico to stock up on essentials they say they are not receiving on the American side.
    The U.S. Border Patrol said on Thursday (September 16) that it was increasing staffing in Del Rio and providing drinking water, towels and portable toilets.
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday announced that because of the influx, it was temporarily and immediately closing its port of entry at Del Rio and re-routing border traffic to Eagle Pass, 57 miles east.
    Biden, a Democrat who took office in January, has pledged a more humane approach to immigration than that of former President Donald Trump.
    The situation in Del Rio is giving ammunition to critics who say Biden's policies have encouraged migrants.
    (Production: Marco Bello, Go Nakamura, Njuwa Maina)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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