Update 1 – US immigrant camp closed while Haitian expulsion continues

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Written by Idris Latif and Christina Cook

DEL RIO, Texas, Sept 24 (Reuters) – A border camp has expelled thousands of Haitian immigrants who had come to host them, as deportation flights from the United States and relayed to Mexico shut down the chapter that rocked U.S. politics last week, a Texas judge said Friday.

Val Verde County Judge Luis Owens, who has been monitoring the number of people in the makeshift camp, reported that only “rednecks” remained among the up to 15,000 people camped on the banks of the Rio Grande, which borders Mexico, a year ago. . the week.

A Reuters witness explained that the group of temporary shelters and tents, similar to a shanty village, practically disappeared on Friday afternoon, as workers cleared the last of the rubble.

In addition to the controversial use of expulsion flights by US President Joe Biden’s government, which has returned at least 1,400 people to the instability of Haiti, Mexico has also attempted to transport Haitians by bus and plane to its southern states, away from its northern border.

Thousands more are in US detention centers and several hundreds have been released in Texas.

Reuters reported on Friday that the International Organization for Migration has formally asked Brazil if it will take in some Haitians who have been camping along the US-Mexico border, according to two sources familiar with the request.

Many Haitians who reached the US border had previously lived in Brazil and Chile, while others crossed through South American countries.

Biden has faced heavy criticism in recent days over the expulsion to Haiti, including in a resignation letter from that country’s special envoy, Daniel Foot, who said the Caribbean nation was a collapsing nation.

The US government expanded temporary protection against deportation to Haitians from its territory in May, citing political crisis, rights abuses, crime and a lack of access to food, water and health care in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Since then, the president of Haiti was assassinated and the country suffered a devastating earthquake.

Foote’s resignation came after widespread outrage over images of US border guards riding a horse unfurling a whip-like rope against Haitian migrants being pursued near their camp.

And flight-tracking website Flightaware showed that at least five more flights were scheduled to pick up the Haitians from the border camp on Friday. (Additional reporting by Adrees Latif in Del Rio, Texas; Christina Cook in San Francisco; Written by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Diane Kraft; Translated by Adriana Barrera)