Refugee crisis at the US border: are Haitians allowed to enter after all?

As of: 09/22/2021 7:47 p.m.

In the past few days, thousands of Haitians had tried to come to the United States from Mexico. US border guards took action against them, sometimes with enormous harshness. Now US officials are apparently allowing Haitians to enter the country.

By Katrin Brand, ARD Studio Washington

The situation on the Texan-Mexican border is becoming increasingly confusing. Apparently, US officials have begun to allow thousands of Haitian refugees to enter the US after all. This is reported by the AP news agency with reference to employees who are familiar with the processes but wanted to remain anonymous.

“Steel Barrier”

The Haitians were released on a large scale, many with the condition that they report to immigration authorities within 60 days. That would contradict the previous policy of the US government, which has announced that it will immediately send back all illegally entered Haitians.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, accused the US government of incompetence. You don’t manage to clear the migrants before the end of the week, Abbott said yesterday in Del Rio. You pretend that there is no crisis.

“We’re here to show that this crisis exists,” said Abbott. There is total chaos and the Biden government must now really hit it. To secure the Texas border, Abbott announced a “steel barrier”. Vehicles from US authorities are said to prevent people from crossing on the banks of the Rio Grande border river.

Migrants, many of them from Haiti, wait in Del Rio, Texas to be transferred to buses.

Image: AP

About 8000 people who have illegally entered the USA from Mexico are currently camping under a bridge near the border town near Del Rio in Texas. Many are from Haiti and have been in Central America for years.

The US government deports hundreds of them to Haiti by air every day. In order to empty the improvised camp, refugees are also being distributed to other cities by bus and airplanes. Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas announced yesterday that a lot would change in the next few days.

Riots in a bus

Meanwhile, the discussion about the behavior of the border guards continues. Over the weekend, pictures and videos of police officers on horseback appearing to be whipping people with their reins were published. Yesterday, Brandon Judd, president of a border guards union, referred to the tense situation and reported rioting on a bus: “When these people, who were on buses south of Kingsville, Texas, found out that they were being sent back to Haiti , they took over the bus and fled “.

Homeland Security Minister Mayorkas had announced an investigation. The Joe Biden administration has described the scenes as “repulsive and gruesome”.

Crisis on the Texan-Mexican border: now admission to the USA after all?

Katrin Brand, ARD Washington, September 22nd, 2021 7:11 pm

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