Status: 18.09.2021 9:59 p.m.
In order to get the flow of refugees under control on the border with Mexico, the US government wants to increase the pace of deportations. Significantly more aircraft and border guards are to be used for this.
In view of the thousands of migrants who camp under a bridge in the US state of Texas on the border with Mexico, the US government wants to increasingly bring people back to their homeland by plane. Additional transportation would be procured to increase the speed and capacity of flights to Haiti and other destinations in the region within the next 72 hours, the US Department of Homeland Security said.
In addition, 400 additional border guards are to be sent to the city of Del Rio, which borders Mexico. The living conditions of the migrants in the camp should be improved. At the same time, the government is working with the countries of origin of the people so that they can accept their citizens again.
Migrants are to be redistributed
Previously, images had caused a sensation, showing thousands of migrants – according to US media reports, up to 14,000 people – living under a bridge on the Rio Grande in the border town of Del Rio in Texas. Most of the people in the camp are from Haiti and had reached the United States from Mexico via the Rio Grande.
Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano said the migrants were mostly from Haiti, entering the country illegally, and waiting to be picked up by the U.S. border protection agency. However, this is overwhelmed in view of the great rush.
The Ministry of Homeland Security now wants to redistribute migrants to other places in the region in order to be able to process them more quickly. This is to ensure that people would be expelled if they were illegally in the United States.
Republicans and Democrats allegations
Given the situation in Del Rio, US President Joe Biden came under criticism – both from the opposition Republicans and his Democrats. The Republicans accused Biden of encouraging more migrants to travel to the US with his decision to allow Haitians to stay in the US after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in late July, even without a valid visa.
The situation on the border between Mexico and the United States is a huge political problem for Biden. The Republicans of ex-President Donald Trump are demanding a crackdown on illegal immigration and exploiting the issue as a tactical campaigner. Biden, on the other hand, had promised a more humane refugee and immigration policy than those under Trump and is being urged, especially by the left wing of the Democrats, to follow up on words with deeds.