– When we didn’t want to leave, they locked us in buses to calm us down

Thousands of migrants have taken refuge in makeshift camps under the Rio Grande bridge that connects Acuña, Mexico, to Del Rio, Texas.

People, especially from Haiti, have flocked to the border crossing in recent weeks. It was closed on Friday.

The crisis at the border means that the United States has now launched what may be the fastest and most comprehensive mass deportation of immigrants and refugees in decades.

It talks about violence

– When we didn’t want to leave, they locked us in the buses to calm us down. The Americans hit both women and men, says one of the men who were put on one of the first planes to Haiti, who landed in Port-au-Prince yesterday.

Authorities in Haiti, in crisis, have called on the United States to halt mass deportations on humanitarian grounds.

“Haiti is unable to receive all these returning people,” the director of the country’s National Immigration Office, Jean-Nigot Bonior Delva, told the New York Times.

Haiti struggles with widespread poverty, political crisis and the consequences of numerous natural disasters. Among other things, tens of thousands of people are still waiting for emergency assistance after the powerful earthquake that hit the country on August 14. According to the United Nations, nearly one million Haitians are at risk of severe food shortages in the coming months.

Haiti is hell for these people, says Bonheur Delva.

Biden uses Trump’s laws

Mass deportation is possible due to rules introduced by President Donald Trump in March 2020, meaning immigrants can be deported immediately without the possibility of seeking asylum.

President Joe Biden made exceptions for children who come alone, but he kept the rest.

The United States has seen a steady influx of immigrants and refugees since the beginning of the year, and more than 200,000 people are now in internment camps along the border. This is the highest number in 21 years.

Don’t give up hope for the United States

But although the US authorities are now sending a clear signal about the possibility of obtaining residency in the United States, many are still determined to cross the border.

– They were told that they would be deported, but they would not listen. They just want to get there. It’s a dream for them, Juan Sierra Vargas, director of the Casa del Migrante immigration center in Matamoros, tells AP.

Many immigrants traveled so far and risked so much to get to Mexico that they would not give up when the goal – the United States – was at hand.

– This was difficult for us. We were cheated, money stolen, and many other problems along the way, says Weston Demeille.

It has been more than half a year since he left Haiti. Now he’s in San Fernando, Mexico, which is a two-hour drive from the US border.

Hundreds of immigrants have been forcibly stopped here in San Fernando after buses to the border were stopped. One of the immigrants gathers the others to pray:

– We ask that our Lord allow us to move from here and to the border. And from there to the other side and to a better life.

– Amen, the rest of the group is ok.