'Steel barrier' of HUNDREDS of state trooper SUVs line the border in 'unprecedented' move to stem the tide of Haitian migrants after Biden made mockery of pledge to send them home by RELEASING thousands into America
Texas Governor Greg Abbot has been forced to use 'unprecedented' methods to prevent more Haitian migrants from entering U.S. by creating a 'steel barrier' of hundreds of vehicles at the border.
Abbott visited the U.S.-Mexican border on Tuesday and praised DPS and Texas National Guard for creating the barrier from of hundreds of state-owned vehicles, almost all of which appear to be bulky SUVs.
The vehicles 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.
Thousands of Haitian migrants have already been freed into the US on a 'very, very large scale' rather than being flown out on deportation flights as the Biden administration promised, according to officials. It's estimated as many as 5,000 migrants have been allowed in.
'They have created a steel barrier preventing people from being able to cross the border,' Abbott said Tuesday.
'One day there were countless people coming across the border, then the DPS put up all these DPS vehicles, and suddenly, in an instant, people stopped crossing the border in this location. That strategy is working.'
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 'steel barrier' of vehicles is the latest method border officials are utilizing to deal with the surge of thousands of Haitian migrants crossing into the United States
A 'steel barrier' of state-owned vehicles have been lined up for miles that stretch along the border
Migrants who remained at the border bridge in Del Rio are seen in a waiting pen on Wednesday before being loaded onto buses
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. Thousands more have been released into the US
Migrants, many from Haiti, are seen wading between the U.S. and Mexico on the Rio Grande
Two US officials with knowledge of the situation in Del Rio said they have been released into the US with notices to appear at an immigration court in 60 days' time under the so-called 'catch and release' scheme. Others have been sent on buses and planes to other parts of the US to be processed by Border Patrol agents there, they said.
Deportation flights began on Sunday, and by Wednesday morning, over 1,000 migrants had been flown back to Haiti, a source with knowledge of the matter told DailyMail.com.
The 'steel barrier' is the latest method border officials are utilizing to deal with the surge of thousands of Haitian migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico by walking over a dam in the Rio Grande river.
Abbott has also flooded Del Rio with law enforcement officials to stem the flow of migrants, with both he and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claiming Tuesday that the border area has been successfully sealed-off.
The governor also criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to secure the border and said the state of Texas would step up and add $2 billion toward border security funding, the Washington Post reported.
'When you have an administration that is not enforcing the law in this country, when you have an administration that has abandoned any pretense of securing the border and securing our sovereignty, you see the onrush of people like what we saw walking across this dam that is right behind me,' Abbott said.
On Wednesday, AP reported thousands of Haitian migrants camped under a bridge in Del Rio are being released into the US on a 'very, very large scale,' according to a source who put the figure in the thousands, but couldn't clarify further.
At its peak, there were 14,600 there, according to Abbott. A Department of Homeland Security source told DailyMail.com that 1,083 people have been deported back to Haiti as of Wednesday, with seven further deportation flights scheduled for Wednesday.
Abbott added that around 8,600 Haitian migrants still remain in Del Rio, meaning that up to 5,000 may have been released into the United States.
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
A Haitian girl is seen Tuesday under the bridge which was turned into a makeshift to house the thousands of migrants
A bus to transport migrants to other parts of the US for processing is seen by the Del Rio bridge in Texas Tuesday night
Haitians deported from the US recover their belongings scattered on the tarmac of the Toussaint Louverture airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday
Migrants are guided by Border Patrol agents as they prepare to board a bus from the migrant camp in Del Rio to be taken to other parts of the US for processing
President Biden has previously claimed that those same migrants faced immediate expulsion, but immigration sources say that many have been released with notices to appear at an immigration office in 60 days.
This expedites processing times but clearly carries a colossal risk that those who are released will not return to appear before officials.
On Sunday, three flights deported 327 Haitian nationals from Del Rio back to the capital of Port-au-Prince Sunday, two flights deported 233 Monday and 523 were flown out on four flights Tuesday, the official said.
In total, 1083 migrants have been deported in the last three days, suggesting up to 5,000 may have been released into the United States.
Another seven deportation flights are expected to expel further Haitian migrants Wednesday.
This purported reality on the ground is drastically at odds with the public statements the Biden administration has made in recent days in an effort to get a handle on the ever-increasing migrant crisis at the US's southern border.
The official line is that Haitians are being expelled from the US back to the crisis-stricken Caribbean nation under a Donald Trump-era rule.
Under Title 42, migrants can be repatriated to their home nations without the possibility of requesting asylum due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted Monday that migrants entering the US illegally will be sent back to their home countries.
'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 press conference.
Mayorkas then went one step further Tuesday, insisting that the border is now 'closed' to migrants.
Border Patrol agents were placed on administrative duties pending an investigation into images which appeared to show them whipping Haitian migrants while on horseback on the banks of the Rio Grande.
Mayorkas said Tuesday the images 'horrified' him, a seeming shift in tone from a day earlier, when he and others were more sanguine about the situation at the border.
'The actions we're taking are swift and strong, and we will take further action as the facts adduced in the investigation compel,' he said on Twitter.
Democrats reacted furiously to the images which have embarrassed Biden who wants to project an image of compassion in contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump.
He faces a war on two fronts amid consternation among Republicans who believe that Biden has essentially thrown open the door to migrants who believe that the US border is now softer.
At the same time, Mexico has begun flying migrants away from the U.S. border, as well as sending some by bus, towards its border with Guatemala in the south.
US authorities have scrambled in recent days for buses to Tucson but resorted to flights when they could not find enough transport contractors, the source said. Coast Guard planes took Haitians from Del Rio to El Paso.
The releases were occurring despite the signaling of a massive effort to expel the migrants on flights to Haiti under pandemic-related authority that denies them an opportunity to seek asylum.
A third source said there were seven daily flights to Haiti planned starting on Wednesday.
Texas Gov. Abbott (center) praised officials for creating a 'steel wall' of state-owned vehicles that stretch along the border to deter Haitian migrants from crossing
A United States Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande
A Border Patrol officer is swinging what appears to be a lariat while trying to stop Haitian migrants from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge Sunday
Accounts of wide-scale releases – some observed at the Del Rio bus station by Associated Press journalists – are at odds with statements a day earlier by Mayorkas, who travelled 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 Monday news conference.
The criteria for deciding who is flown to Haiti and who is released in the US was unclear, but two officials said single adults were the priority for expulsion flights.
Meanwhile, Mexico has begun moving Haitian migrants away from the US border, authorities said on Tuesday, signaling a new level of support for the US as the camp presented President Joe Biden with a humanitarian and increasingly political challenge.
The White House is facing sharp bipartisan condemnation.
Republicans say 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.
Many of the thousands of migrants who have gathered in Del Rio in recent days 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.
A second US official, also with direct knowledge and speaking on the condition of anonymity, said large numbers of Haitians were being processed under immigration laws and not being placed on expulsion flights to Haiti that started Sunday.
The official couldn't be more specific about how many.
US authorities scrambled in recent days for buses to Tucson but resorted to flights when they couldn't find enough transportation contractors, both officials said.
Coast Guard planes also took Haitians from Del Rio to El Paso.
A third US official not authorized to discuss operations said there were seven daily flights to Haiti planned starting Wednesday.
Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, head of Haiti’s national migration office, said last week authorities expected that 14,000 Haitians will be deported from the US over the next three weeks.
Delva warned that Haiti cannot handle thousands of homeless deportees arriving into the country.
The criteria for deciding who is flown to Haiti and who is released in the US was unclear.
But two US officials said single adults were the priority for expulsion flights.
The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday night.
In May, the Biden administration's DHS designated Haiti for temporary protected status (TPS) as the nation was in the grips of 'human rights abuses, crippling poverty, and lack of basic resources, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.'
Under TPS, foreign nationals cannot be deported back to countries hit by natural or manmade disasters, enabling Haitians to live in the US without legal status to qualify for provisional residency.
Then in August - following the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise in July and the earthquake which killed more than 2,000 people the next month - he extended and expanded the TPS further.
A statement on the Department of Homeland Security's website stipulates that the TPS rule only applies to Haitians already in the United States when the announcement was made in May, and that Haitians who subsequently tried to travel to the US would not be allowed to benefit from the new rule.
It is unclear how the United States is able to differentiate between Haitians who illegally entered the country before and after the TPS proclamation was made.
Two US officials with knowledge of the situation in Del Rio said thousands of migrants have been released into the US with notices to appear at an immigration court in 60 days' time
Illuminated by the lights of a National Guard vehicle, immigrants walk through the migrant camp next to the border
Migrants, many of them Haitian, cross the Rio Grande river back and forth from the United States and Mexico, to camp after a lack of supplies are given to them in the USA in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, 21 September
Thousands of Haitian migrants are being freed into the US on a 'very, very large scale' rather than being flown out on deportation flights as the Biden administration promised, according to officials
A tiny little girl camps out with her father under a makeshift tent at the camp under the Texas bridge overnight Tuesday
Republicans blame the pause on deportation flights on the surge in Haitians crossing into the US, arguing that this led Haitians to believe they would get asylum in America - when in fact it only applies to Haitians already residing in the US.
Democrats, meanwhile, are slamming Biden after he resumed deportation flights Sunday, sending people back to a nation that is unable to take them.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded the Biden administration stop the flights and cease using Title 42 on the Senate floor Tuesday saying it defies 'common decency'.
Last Thursday, a federal judge blocked the Biden administration from using Title 42 to expel migrant families but the order takes 14 days to take effect and the administration appealed the ruling the next day.
This week, further outrage surfaced after images went viral of Border Patrol agents on horseback appearing to whip migrants with horse reins.
Haitian migrants cross the Rio Grande river to get food and water in Mexico on Tuesday
Migrants lie on the ground and on cardboard boxes Wednesday at a makeshift shelter in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila state, Mexico
Haitian migrants including young children are seen at a shelter in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila state, Mexico, Wednesday
Haitian migrants are seen sleeping in Mexico. Some crossed the Rio Grande back into Mexico in search of food, water or medical treatment
Over in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila state, Mexico, close to the US border Haitian migrants sleep on the ground at a shelter
Migrants sleep on the ground under the bridge at the makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas Tuesday night near the US border
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's foreign relations secretary, said Tuesday he had spoken with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, about the Haitians' situation.
Ebrard said most of the Haitians already had refugee status in Chile or Brazil, having fled to those countries in the wake of the 2010 earthquake, and weren't seeking it in Mexico.
'What they are asking for is to be allowed to pass freely through Mexico to the United States,' Ebrard said.
Two Mexican federal officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed Mexico's actions.
One of the officials said three busloads of migrants left Acuña on Tuesday morning for Piedras Negras, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) down the border, where they boarded a flight to the southern city of Villahermosa in the state of Tabasco.
The other official said there was a flight Monday from the northern city of Monterrey to the southern city of Tapachula near the Guatemala border.
Tapachula is home to the largest immigrant detention center in Latin America.
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