Residents of the Texas border town that has become ground zero for President Joe Biden's latest migrant crisis are expressing their fury over the situation, likening the scenes of human misery to that of a war zone.
The migrant camp under the International Bridge in Del Rio that at one point held as many as 15,000 Haitian migrants has shrunk to some 5,000, with many being released into the US.
Freddy Castro, a welder in Del Rio, told the Washington Examiner that the situation at the bridge was 'total chaos,' adding that the Biden administration has managed it 'very poorly.'
Kristen Williams, a resident of 31 years who lives in the county, told the newspaper that she's 'never seen it like this'.
'They need to go back to where they came from,' Williams said. 'We don't have the resources in this town. We don't have the resources in the United States.'
Thousands of Haitian migrants in Del Rio are being released in the United States, according to two U.S. officials, undercutting the Biden administration's public statements that those in the camp faced immediate expulsion to Haiti.
In Del Rio on Thursday, long lines of migrants were seen waiting to board buses to Houston after being released from immigration custody.
The United States has returned 1,401 migrants from the camp to Haiti and taken another 3,206 people into custody, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said late on Wednesday, but unknown thousands have been released into the US. The Del Rio camp now holds fewer than 5,000 people, DHS said.
It held a total of around 14,600 people at its peak.
Meanwhile the Biden administration's special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, submitted a letter of resignation protesting the 'inhumane' large-scale expulsions of Haitian migrants, U.S. officials said Thursday.
The Haitian migrant camp is seen on Thursday morning. At one point holding as many as 15,000, the camp has shrunk to under 5,000 as thousands of migrants are released into the US interior
Migrants, many from Haiti, are seen in lines waiting to board busses at an encampment in Del Rio on Thursday
A bus, top center, leaves an area near a migrant encampment along the Del Rio International Bridge as another bus, bottom right, arrives on Thursday. A steady stream of buses have been arriving to take the migrants for processing
Haitians have been freed on a 'very, very large scale' in recent days, one official said Tuesday. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter and thus spoke on condition of anonymity, put the figure in the thousands.
Many have been released with notices to appear at an immigration office within 60 days, an outcome that requires less processing time from Border Patrol agents than ordering an appearance in immigration court and points to the speed at which authorities are moving.
Mackenson Veillard and his pregnant wife camped with thousands for a week under the bridge, sleeping on concrete and getting by on bread and bottled water, but were released by immigration officials.
Three hours later, they were waiting for a Greyhound bus to take them to a cousin in San Antonio.
'I felt so stressed,' Veillard, 25, said the past week. 'But now, I feel better. It's like I'm starting a new life.'
The releases come despite the Biden administration's vow to undertake a massive effort to expel Haitians on flights under pandemic-related authority that denies migrants a chance to seek asylum.
A third U.S. official not authorized to discuss operations said there were seven daily flights to Haiti planned starting Wednesday.
Ten flights arrived in Haiti from Sunday to Tuesday in planes designed for 135 passengers, according to Haitian officials, who didn´t provide a complete count but said six of those flights carried 713 migrants combined.
Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. disembark a Border Patrol bus at Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition after being released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Thursday in Del Rio
Migrants who were released from CBP custody board a bus to Houston from Del Rio on Thursday
Haitian migrants wait to board a bus to Houston at the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition after being released Thursday
Haitians have been freed on a 'very, very large scale' in recent days, one official said
The releases come despite Biden's vow to expel Haitians on flights under pandemic-related authority that denies migrants a chance to seek asylum
A volunteer hands out baby diapers as migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. line up to board a bus to Houston from Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition after being released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in Del Rio on Thursday
Migrants board a bus to Houston after their release on Thursday. U.S. authorities have declined to say how many have been released in the U.S. in recent days.
U.S. authorities have declined to say how many have been released in the U.S. in recent days.
Filippo Grandi, the head of the U.N. refugee agency, warned that the U.S. expulsions to Haiti might violate international law.
On the other side of the river, several hundred more Haitians are living in Ciudad Acuna in a makeshift camp dotted with blankets, pieces of cardboard and a handful of tarps and tents.
In Mexico, migrants who had camped in a park beside the river in Ciudad Acuña found state police trucks spaced every 30 feet or so between their tents and the water´s edge at dawn on Thursday.
Still, after anxious minutes of indecision, dozens of families opted to hustle into the river and cross at a point where there was only one municipal police vehicle, calculating it was better to take their chances with U.S. authorities.
The entrance to the park was blocked and just outside, National Guard troops and immigration agents waited along with three buses. A helicopter flew overhead.
The camp´s usual early morning hum was silenced as migrants tried to decide what to do.
Guileme Paterson, a 36-year-old from Haiti, appeared dazed. 'It is a difficult moment,' she said before beginning to cross the Rio Grande with her husband and their four children.
Mexican police stand guard near the Rio Grande river in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, at dawn Thursday on the border with Del Rio
Migrants trying to reach the U.S., many from Haiti, camp out in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, at dawn Thursday
A girl with Barbie dolls stuffed in her boots waits with others to cross the Rio Grande river with their parents as they stand on the bank of the Rio Grande river in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, at dawn Thursday
In Mexico, migrants who had camped in a park beside the river in Ciudad Acuña found state police trucks spaced every 30 feet or so between their tents and the water´s edge at dawn on Thursday
Mexican police and National Guard stand near a parked bus near the Rio Grande river in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico Thursday
Texas Department of Safety and National Guard vehicles shine their lights on the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas before dawn, as seen from Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila state, Mexico on Wednesday
On the U.S. side, the government had been accelerating its efforts to clear the camp in recent days, releasing many migrants with notices to appear later before immigration authorities and flying hundreds of Haitians back to their country.
DHS has been busing Haitians from Del Rio, a town of 35,000 people, to El Paso, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas border, and this week added flights to Tucson, Arizona, the official said. The migrants are processed by the Border Patrol at those locations.
Criteria for deciding who is flown to Haiti and who is released in the U.S. are a mystery, but two officials said single adults were a priority. If previous handling of asylum-seekers is any guide, the administration is more likely to release those deemed vulnerable, including pregnant women, families with young children and those with medical issues.
The Biden administration exempts unaccompanied children from expulsion flights on humanitarian grounds.
The system is a 'black box,' said Wade McMullen, an attorney with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, who was in Del Rio. 'Right now, we have no official access to understand what processes are underway, what protections are being provided for the migrants.'
On Wednesday, more than 300 migrants had been dropped off in Border Patrol vans by early afternoon at a welcome center staffed by the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition.
They waited for buses to Houston, a springboard to final destinations in the U.S. Many were required to wear ankle monitors, used to ensure they obey instructions to report to immigration authorities.
'Hello. How are you?' volunteer Lupita De La Paz greeted them in Spanish. 'We will help you. You have arrived in Del Rio, Texas. It's a small town. There are not many options. We will help you get to another place.'
Rabbiatu Yunusah, 34, waited with her 3-year-old daughter Laila, was headed to settle with an uncle in Huntsville, Alabama. She felt 'very happy to be in this country, to be free.'
Jimy Fenelon, 25, and his partner, Elyrose Prophete, who is eight months pregnant, left the camp Tuesday and were headed to Florida to stay with an uncle.
'Everyone has their luck. Some didn´t have luck to get here.' Fenelon said.
Accounts of wide-scale releases - some observed in Del Rio by Associated Press journalists -- are at odds with statements Monday by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who traveled to Del Rio to promise swift action.
'If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned, your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family´s life,' he said at a news conference.
Homeland Security, asked to comment on releases in the United States, said Wednesday that migrants who are not immediately expelled to Haiti may be detained or released with a notice to appear in immigration court or report to an immigration office, depending on available custody space.
'The Biden Administration has reiterated that our borders are not open, and people should not make the dangerous journey,' the department said in a statement. 'Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, including expulsion.'
Meanwhile, Mexico has begun busing and flying Haitian migrants away from the U.S. border, signaling a new level of support for the United States as the camp presented President Joe Biden with a humanitarian and increasingly political challenge.
The White House is facing sharp bipartisan condemnation. Republicans say Biden administration policies led Haitians to believe they would get asylum. Democrats are expressing outrage after images went viral this week of Border Patrol agents on horseback using aggressive tactics against the migrants.
This overhead photo shows some of the hundreds of Texas state SUVs used to form a de-facto steel barrier along the United States-Mexico border in Del Rio, Texas
They are lined up outside Del Rio in Texas, which has seen an influx of 14,600 migrants who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into the US. An estimated 8,600 remained in the town of 35,000 people as of Tuesday night, with 1,083 so far deported back to Haiti
A photo taken Wednesday shows a ramshackle encampment under the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas, as migrants are shepherded away to be processed
The makeshift border camp at one point swelled to more than 14,000 migrants, with this photo emphasizing just how large the encampment has become
Migrants who remained at the border bridge in Del Rio are seen in a waiting pen on Wednesday before being loaded onto buses
Immigrants have described a screening process at the camp where people were given colored tickets for four categories: single men; single women; pregnant women; and families with young children, McMullen said.
The vast majority of immigrants he and other advocates have interviewed and who have
