In view of the thousands of migrants in the Texas border town of Del Rio, the US government is relying on quick deportations. Numerous people from Haiti and other countries have gathered under a bridge that connects the USA and Mexico since last week. The US Department of Homeland Security announced on Saturday that it would procure additional transportation to increase the pace and capacity of deportation flights to Haiti. The situation on the border throws a spotlight on President Joe Biden's immigration policy - the number of migrants apprehended on the US southern border has risen rapidly in recent months.

The mayor of Del Rio, Bruno Lozano, had recently requested urgent help from the federal government.

Lozano said the migrants were mostly from Haiti, entering the country illegally, and waiting to be picked up by border guards.

However, this is overwhelmed in view of the great rush.

US media reports of around 14,000 people who persevered in Del Rio in inhumane conditions.

Faster to deportation

The Ministry of Homeland Security now wants to redistribute migrants to other places in the region in order to be able to process them more quickly. This is to ensure that people would be expelled if they were illegally in the United States. The White House has directed the relevant authorities to work with Haitian and other governments in the region to provide help and support to people when they return, it said.

The desperately poor Caribbean state of Haiti was hit by a severe earthquake in mid-August.

More than 2000 people were killed.

Shortly before, President Jovenel Moïse had been murdered.

Many Haitians had already fled to South America after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

Observers assume that the economic consequences of the corona pandemic have driven them to flee again.

Pictures showed people wading through knee-deep water and setting up makeshift tents in the mud under the bridge that spans the Rio Grande River.

Criticism of Biden from all directions

In view of the crisis, there is also clear criticism of the Democratic President Biden.

Lozano, the mayor of the 36,000-inhabitant city of Del Rio, is also a Democrat and criticized months ago that it was completely inadequate how the federal government was dealing with the situation on the southern border of the United States.

The Democratic MP Ayanna Pressley called on Biden's government to immediately stop deportation flights to Haiti.

Republicans, on the other hand, accuse Biden of too lax policies on the US border with Mexico.

Recently, the number of migrants picked up there has risen significantly.

In July, the border police CBP reportedly picked up around 213,000 people attempting to enter illegally from Mexico - more than in a month for a good 20 years.

In August there were more than 208,000 people, according to the CBP.

Trump's deportation rules apply

The US Department of Homeland Security emphasized that the majority of migrants are deported under the so-called Title 42 rule.

The guideline was introduced under the then President Donald Trump due to the corona pandemic and provides for a quick deportation.

This is justified with the risk of the introduction of Covid-19.

The rule was extended under Biden.

Human rights organizations accuse the government of using the pandemic only as a pretext to deport people without adequate examination and court hearing.

"Irregular migration poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of the border communities and to the lives of migrants themselves," the ministry said.

The borders are not open, people should not go on the "dangerous journey".

“This government made a big splash when it said it wanted a humane asylum system,” Lee Gelernt, a civil rights advocate for the ACLU, told the New York Times.

It is appalling that the government is sending the blanket message that the border is closed.

They do not acknowledge that people have no choice but to flee.