President Biden is enforcing a Trump-era order to begin a mass expulsion of Haitian immigrants currently camped in Texas from the country. According to reports from Newsmax, Biden has already expelled more than 300 migrants from Del Rio, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. Currently, there are approximately 12,000 migrants camped around a bridge in Texas who will be sent back to their home countries.
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Biden is enacting a Covid-19 immigration policy introduced by President Trump that allows for migrants to be immediately removed from the country without an opportunity to seek asylum
Newsmax reports:
The U.S. plans to begin seven expulsion flights daily on Wednesday, four to Port-au-Prince and three to Cap-Haitien, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Flights will continue to depart from San Antonio but authorities may add El Paso, the official said.
Central Americans have also crossed the border in comparable numbers without being subject to mass expulsion, although Mexico has agreed to accept them from the U.S. under pandemic-related authority in effect since March 2020. Mexico does not accept expelled Haitians or people of other nationalities outside of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
When the border was closed Sunday, the migrants initially found other ways to cross nearby until they were confronted by federal and state law enforcement. An Associated Press reporter saw Haitian immigrants still crossing the river into the U.S. about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) east of the previous spot, but they were eventually stopped by Border Patrol agents on horseback and Texas law enforcement officials.
Haitians have been migrating to the U.S. in large numbers from South America for several years, many having left their Caribbean nation after a devastating 2010 earthquake. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus, and car to the U.S. border, including through the infamous Darien Gap, a Panamanian jungle.
The Mexican government will also be deporting migrants back to their home country.
