Shocking images have emerged of the squalid and fetid migrant camp under the Del Rio bridge in Texas that is currently home to thousands of Haitian migrants who have flocked across the US's southern border.
Desperate migrants, many of them families with young children, are being forced to sleep on the dirty ground or - if they're fortunate - cardboard boxes folded out flat.
Many have resorted to fashioning makeshift tents using discarded clothing and tree branches in order to provide at least some shelter from the elements.
The heat has been punishing over the last week with temperatures soaring into the high 90s and families resorting to bathing in the grimy water of the Rio Grande river to cool off.
The squalor is more reminiscent of a Third World country than the land of the American dream, which thousands of migrants have fled to in the hopes of claiming asylum and building a better life.
Women and young children are seen lying on the ground of the camp among plastic bottles, empty Oreo packets and food containers
A young girl stands in the place that she currently calls home in a makeshift camp under the Del Rio bridge in Texas
A Haitian passport is seen in a pile of trash near the International Bridge between Mexico and the US Tuesday night
A migrant walks past a pile of garbage at the camp under the Del Rio bridge in Texas on the US-Mexico border Tuesday night
An aerial photo shows the huge piles of garbage which lie just steps away from the places young children sleep
Thousands are forced to sleep on the bare ground or on rugs laid among the debris of trees cut down to be used as shelter
Shocking images have emerged of the squalid and fetid migrant camp under the Del Rio bridge in Texas that is currently home to thousands of Haitian migrants
Empty water bottles, food containers and other litter is strewn around while mountains of garbage tower up high into the air.
An aerial photo shows the huge piles of garbage from above, which are seen just steps away from the places young children call home.
In another image, women and young children are seen lying among plastic bottles and an empty Oreo packet, on the ground which is covered in the remnants of trees that have been used to fashion the shelters.
Another photo shows a Haitian passport in a pile of trash including empty aluminum cans, an old shoe and discarded clothing.
The cramped conditions have also fueled fears of a COVID-19 outbreak - especially given that the migrants crossing the border are not required to be vaccinated before entering the US.
Almost 15,000 mostly Haitian migrants were camped out under the bridge at the weekend after crossing into the US from Mexico.
Many fled Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and have been living in South American countries including Brazil and Chile.
But since these nations have been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, many Haitians have traveled up through South America and Mexico to seek asylum in the US.
Border Patrol agents struggling to process the vast numbers of people quickly enough set up the makeshift camp under the bridge as a temporary home.
Last week, concerns rose that there would not be enough food, water and basic supplies to provide for the thousands of migrants living at the site.
A woman and child try to shelter under a makeshift covering made from sticks and clothing as they wait to be processed
Desperate migrants, many of them families with young children, are being forced to sleep on the dirty ground or - if they're fortunate - cardboard boxes folded out flat
Empty water bottles, food containers and other litter is strewn around the makeshift camp site under the Texas bridge
Many have resorted to fashioning makeshift tents using discarded clothing and tree branches in order to provide at least some shelter from the elements
A child holds up a teddy bear as he prepares for another night camped out under the bridge in Del Rio, Texas, Tuesday
One of the more fortunate sleeps on an airbed surrounded while clothes are draped around and a little girl clutches a teddy
Instead, families were seen trudging back across the Rio Grande into Mexico
