In what will surely be the lead story on Fox News primetime shows tonight (big /s), the number of migrants massing at camps along the Mexico border in Texas has dropped dramatically as the Biden Administration’s immigration policy is enforced, the Associated Press reports.
In Del Rio, where as many as 15,000 migrants were encamped last weekend, the estimated number of people remaining has dropped to 4,000. More than 1,400 Haitian migrants were flown back to Haiti on 13 flights this week, while another 3,200 were taken into US custody for processing. Additionally, thousands returned to the Mexican side where they took up residence in local hotels or in private homes of sponsors in towns along the border.
Migrants reportedly surged crossings across the southern border as false rumors circulated that the Biden Administration was soon to offer amnesty to people on American ground. As word of deportations spread, migrants opted to return to Mexico in hope of making the crossing again later.
Mexican officials lined vehicles up along the riverbank in an apparent effort to stop crossings from a camp established at a local park, although many suspect the Mexican officials of trying to push migrants to make the crossing into the US. About 30 people crossed into the US where only one isolated vehicle was located. Mexican officials also stationed three buses on the outside of the park to transport migrants to other facilities, but the buses ultimately left with no passengers.
“Bad, bad, bad, things are going badly,” said Michou Petion, a Haitian woman carrying her 2-year-old son in her arms. “The U.S. is deporting a lot to Haiti, now I don’t know if I can enter or leave.”
The Biden Administration has faced criticism for the handling of migrant families crossing the border, with conservative politicians and pundits harping on the number of migrants housed in the camps in Texas. Yesterday, those conservatives who praised Donald Trump for separating families and imprisoning children expressed outrage that Border Patrol agents on horseback were photographed intercepting migrants. Many liberals also expressed disapproval for the conditions the migrants were living in, with the US envoy to Haiti resigning over what he called “inhumane” treatment of returned individuals.