The West Texas town of Del Rio, which sits alongside the Rio Grande, has become the single most popular illegal border crossing for Haitian migrants. Since May 22, the Border Patrol has apprehended more than 1,800 Haitians after crossing the river from Mexico.
A source within the CBP has said the number of illegal Haitian migrants increased after DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the eligibility of Haitians for Temporary Protected Status on May 22. While Mayorkas declared an 18-month time limit on the TPS designation, everyone knows such deadlines are usually extended, often for years. Once a country has been so designated, the new status typically acts as a pull factor to citizens who are anxious to get out and come to America.
Virtually every day, large groups of Haitian citizens come across the border at Del Rio, which sits across the river from Ciudad Acuna, a relatively safe–and thus attractive–area of the Mexican border. On Monday of this week, a group of more than 100 was apprehended just south of the city.
Local residents have expressed concern for the safety of themselves and their families about the influx. One such Del Rio resident is Joe Bernard, who lives a mile from the border. In an interview with Breitbart News, Bernard’s wife told of a recent attempt by a group of Haitians to stop her car, when one lay down on the roadway to block her passage. “I was terrified,” she said. “There were two other men and a female with a baby, I was barely able to swerve around them and not run over the man in the street.” She also told of witnessing a similar incident earlier that day when another driver was approached by several migrants who demanded he stop.
Complaints to authorities have fallen on deaf ears. “This comes from the highest level of government–they don’t care one bit about us,” she said.
The numbers of illegals coming across at Del Rio are so extreme that the Border Patrol has ceased bothering to issue immigration court dates. Instead, they merely “process,” then send the migrants out into America.
For more, see Breitbart News.