According to reports, thousands of Haitian migrants are being released into the United States, contradicting the Biden administration’s claims that they would be removed from the country.
Border officials say government buses have been dropping off families at supermarkets, gas stations, and shelters for possibly months. Many of the migrants were also transported to airports and bus stations to await further transport to homes of family members in the interior of the US.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told news outlets this week that an estimated 12,000 Haitian migrants have been released into the US. The number goes beyond previous estimates and some sources within the CBP say the number of Haitians released into the US since July is closer to 30,000.
A new report from Reuters claims that approximately 20,000 more mostly Haitian migrants are currently traversing Panama, on their way toward the US border.
According to another report from Axios, the Foreign Minister of Panama has warned US officials that the number could be as high as 60,000 Haitian illegal immigrants traveling through Latin America in hopes of entering the United States.
Watch the clip of Alejandro Mayorkas below:
According to the Associated Press, just hours after being removed from the migrant camp under the Del Rio international bridge, a man and his pregnant wife said they were dropped off at a gas station. In the interview, the couple stated that they were told to wait for a Greyhound bus to take them to their cousin’s house in San Antonio, Texas.
“I felt so stressed,” Mackenson Veillard, 25, said. “But now, I feel better. It’s like I’m starting a new life.”
According to another report from the New York Times, nearly 2,000 Haitian migrants have recently arrived in Houston, with buses pulling up to a shelter in the city nearly every hour.
Possibly thousands more have been sent to San Antonio, and according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), authorities are putting many migrants onto flights to destinations like New York, Boston, and Miami. All of the migrants reportedly have paperwork in their pockets permitting them to remain in the country.
Approximately 14,000 Haitian migrants were waiting for days under the Del Rio-Acuna International Bridge, before being cleared out.
The Biden administration claimed that most of the migrants were processed into the system and deported, but according to sources inside CBP, it is likely that most of the migrants are being released at various destinations throughout the US and will remain in the country.
As immigration authorities are overwhelmed by the latest wave of migrants, journalists at the border are finding many of the migrants are discarding their forms of identification.
CBP officials say this tactic is used to conceal from asylum reviewers that many of the migrants were already safely situated for years in other countries before coming to America.
Journalist Bill Melugin published photographs of documents discarded by the migrants, and among the findings, he discovered that some of them had already been processed by the United States and released.
On September 22nd, reporter Todd Bensman published another photograph revealing that many of the Haitians who arrived in the country had Chilean identity cards or passports issued by Brazil.
“The reason Haitian migrants discard their Chilean and Brazilian ID cards over here on the Mex side is to obscure from asylum reviewers that they were already safely and prosperously situated for years and years before coming for the American upgrades,” explained Bensman.
Reporter Julio Rosas recently posted a photograph to his Twitter account showing dozens of Haitian migrants sleeping outside Del Rio Airport. Rosas explained that the migrants were waiting to board flights that will disperse them throughout various cities in the US.
The surge of migrants from further away, and coming from countries like Haiti, has reportedly been happening for months.
One video from back in July shows groups of mostly Haitian migrants walking across the border in Del Rio, Texas.
Another video from August 2nd shows Haitians being dropped off at random gas stations by officials and told to reach their final destination within 60 days and within the interior of the country or face removal.
On September 16th, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan blocked the Biden administration from turning away migrant families with children, citing a public health order related to COVID-19. The order forces the legal admittance of countless migrant families at the border.
According to the New York Times, the migrant groups are not being tested for COVID upon arrival.
The overwhelmed Border Patrol says it has insufficient time and space to conduct coronavirus testing at processing stations. Reportedly, migrants get a basic health screening, but testing is usually being postponed until their release to local community groups, cities, and counties.
Many migrants say they’re never tested.
In one video posted by the Daily Caller, Haitian migrants confirmed that they were not tested for COVID upon arriving in the United States or after being resettled.
In the video you can see some of the Haitian migrants speaking almost fluent Spanish or Portuguese, revealing how long they have been situated in either Brazil, Chile, and other South American countries.
During a July meeting regarding a migrant holding facility in Texas, a doctor for the U.S. Public Health Service could not provide information on Covid rates.
“I can’t give you daily numbers and breakouts and graphs and things like that,” he said. “Assume everyone has Covid, act appropriately. … Sorry, it’s not a great answer.”
In August, La Joya officials confirmed that thousands of COVID-positive migrants have crossed, and many of them are staying at local hotels. In March Business Insider reported that the Biden administration spent at least $86 million on hotel rooms for migrants as his administration struggles to handle the surge.
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki at a recent press briefing: “If somebody walks into the country across the river, does somebody ask them to see their vaccination card?”
Psaki didn’t confirm whether the migrants were tested for COVID, let alone vaccinated, but said the Haitian migrants are “assessed” for COVID symptoms.
“As individuals cross the border, they are both assessed for if they have any symptoms, if they have symptoms the intention is for them to be quarantined,” Psaki responded.
“They’re not intending to stay here for a lengthy period of time. I don’t think it’s the same thing. It’s not the same thing,” she added.
In a previous press briefing, Psaki confirmed to reporters that migrants are not required to have a COVID vaccine to gain entry.
A recent forecast predicts that more than 1.8 million illegal immigrants are expected to cross the U.S.-Mexico border this year, making it the “worst ever” on record for illegal immigration.
The projection from Princeton Policy Advisors showed that a high of 1,864,000 illegal immigrants could cross the southwest border based on current trends and past averages.
Only around 1 million legal immigrants are processed in an average year, which would make the total immigration for 2021 nearly 3 million people. These numbers do not include those that cross undetected.
