The busy port of entry in Del Rio, Texas, is now reopening after the authorities cleared thousands of mostly Haitian migrants who’d set up camp below the international bridge crossing.
In the past week, about 4,000 migrants have been deported. 13,000 are now in immigration court proceedings.
And Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is defending the Biden administration’s actions, in particular, its use of a pandemic public health power called “Title 42” to expel those who’d crossed into the country illegally:
More than 600,000 have died, more than 40 U.S. Customs and Border protection frontline personnel have lost their lives. This is a public health imperative to protect migrants themselves, local communities, or personnel. And the American public.
Haitian migrants hoping to make America their new home have become the latest political flashpoint.The actions of U.S. border patrol agents on horseback grabbing migrants have been condemned – as Haiti wrestles with its own political turmoil and recovery after a devastating earthquake.
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