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All migrants have been cleared from encampment in Del Rio, homeland security secretary says

As many as 15,000 migrants, mostly from Haiti, crossed the Rio Grande at Del Rio and spent days under the international bridge, sparking a crisis for President Joe Biden.

by Felicia Sonmez, The Washington Post

Makeshift shelters at a temporary migrant camp under the international bride in Del Rio on Sept. 17, 2021.
Makeshift shelters formed a temporary migrant camp last week under the international bridge in Del Rio. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune

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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Friday that all migrants have been cleared from the encampment in Del Rio.

Mayorkas made the announcement at the White House amid widespread criticism of the Biden administration for its handling of the migrants, most of them Haitians, at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Earlier in the day, President Joe Biden decried their treatment and took responsibility for the handling of the estimated 15,000 migrants.

“Less than one week ago, there were approximately 15,000 migrants in Del Rio, Texas, the great majority of whom were Haitian nationals,” Mayorkas told reporters Friday. “This was the result of an unprecedented movement of a very large number of people traveling to a single point of the border within a matter of a few days. ... As of this morning, there are no longer any migrants in the camp underneath the Del Rio International Bridge.”

Mayorkas said that about 2,000 migrants were expelled to Haiti on a total of 17 flights organized by the Department of Homeland Security.

Another 8,000 migrants “decided to return to Mexico voluntarily,” Mayorkas said. The remaining 5,000 are being processed by the Department of Homeland Security “to determine whether they will be expelled or placed in immigration removal proceedings,” he added.

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Information about the authors

Felicia Sonmez

THE WASHINGTON POST