Thousands of migrants camp under Texas bridge, food scarce

CIUDAD ACUÑA, MEXICO, September 17 ------ Ernesto, a 31-year-old Haitian migrant, waded knee-deep through the Rio Grande river that separates the United States and Mexico. He was not heading to the United States, though. He was leaving a migrant encampment in Del Rio, Texas, on Thursday to slip back into Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña to buy water and food — for the fourth time, he said, since arriving in the United States on Monday morning. Reuters witnessed hundreds of other migrants, mostly Haitians but also Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, wading through the Rio Grande and back into Mexico to stock up on essentials they say they are not receiving on the American side.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not respond to questions about the number of people in the Del Rio camp. One CBP agent told Reuters on Wednesday that around 6,000 people were in the camp. Reuters journalists estimated they saw at least 1,000 people on the river’s two shores. The squalid conditions are reflective of the latest border emergency facing President Joe Biden - who promised a more humane approach to immigration policy -- as border arrests hover around twenty year highs.

US authorities arrested more than 195,000 migrants at the Mexican border in August, according to government data released on Wednesday. Ernesto, who declined to give his surname to protect his identity, has been waiting in an overwhelmed makeshift migrant camp under the bridge connecting Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña. He said he had not been fed at the camp, where migrants are sleeping under the International Bridge and jostling for shade in 99 degree Fahrenheit (37 degree Celsius) temperatures.

Although he was initially scared to cross back into Mexico, he was compelled to do so to feed his 3-year-old daughter. "I’ve been crossing once a day," said Ernesto, who wants to claim asylum. Sometimes, he said he runs to avoid Mexican migration officials but is usually not bothered by them. "But now money is running out." Around 20 migrants interviewed by Reuters also said they had not been fed on the Texas side. The migrants showed Reuters tickets with numbers they had received from US Border Patrol. Several said other migrants told them they could be stuck at the camp for up to five days.

Border Patrol said in a statement it was increasing staffing in Del Rio to facilitate a "safe, humane and orderly process." Drinking water, towels and portable toilets have been provided, the statement added, while migrants wait to be transported to facilities.

Source: gmanetwork.com