More than 8 thousand irregular migrants, mostly of Haitian nationality, have managed to cross the border with the United States and were stopped by the authorities in a hastily set up camp under a bridge, in southern Texas. But the situation risks creating a new humanitarian emergency and a serious headache for the US president, Joe Biden.
Migrants have been crossing the border since Tuesday and entering the US in the Del Rio area, in Texas: the flow took immigration authorities by surprise, who improvised a camp under the international bridge linking with Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. The accommodation under the Del Rio International Bridge, pending evaluation of asylum applications, is however very precarious and lacks basic services.
The border between Texas and Mexico has registered a record number of arrivals since Joe Biden took office in January and has already been in the middle of a political crisis. According to Washington Post, many of the Haitian migrants set off after the 2010 earthquake, initially settling in Brazil or Chile, but the crisis triggered by the pandemic has now pushed them towards the United States.
The border police have sent reinforcements to manage the camp, also because they fear further arrivals. “To prevent heat-related diseases, the shaded area under the Del Rio International Bridge acts as a temporary stop,” explained the Border Patrol agency, waiting for asylum applications to be evaluated.
But the situation raises alarm. The governor of Texas, the Republican Greg Abbott, announced the closure of six border crossings with Mexico to “prevent migrant caravans from infesting” the state, although he then backtracked, explaining that the agents will act only as a deterrent. But also the mayor of Del Rio, the Democrat Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano, urged the Biden administration to “recognize that there is a crisis” that can have “serious consequences for safety and health“.
Lozano, who did not hesitate to talk about “shanty town“, he also noted that if agents concentrate in Del Rio, the rest of the border, about 400 kilometers long, will be left unattended.” And who controls the rest. “Washington has reduced repatriation flights to Haiti after the crisis. triggered by the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July, and according to official data, it was about 30,000 Haitians entered the United States in the last year. A further problem for the Biden administration, which already has to deal with the accommodation of 60,000 Afghans evacuated from the country.