Many Migrants Staying in US            09/23 06:13

   

   DEL RIO, Texas (AP) -- Three hours after being freed from a giant migrant 
camp under an international bridge, Mackenson Veillard stood outside a gas 
station and took stock of his sudden good fortune as he and his pregnant wife 
waited for a Greyhound bus to take them to a cousin in San Antonio.

   The couple camped with thousands for a week under the bridge in Del Rio, 
Texas, sleeping on concrete and getting by on bread and bottled water.

   "I felt so stressed," Veillard, 25, said this week. "But now, I feel better. 
It's like I'm starting a new life."

   Many Haitian migrants in Del Rio are being released in the United States, 
according to two U.S. officials, undercutting the Biden administration's public 
statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate expulsion to Haiti.

   Haitians have been freed on a "very, very large scale" in recent days, one 
official said Tuesday. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the 
matter and thus spoke on condition of anonymity, put the figure in the 
thousands.

   Many have been released with notices to appear at an immigration office 
within 60 days, an outcome that requires less processing time from Border 
Patrol agents than ordering an appearance in immigration court and points to 
the speed at which authorities are moving.

   The releases come despite a massive effort to expel Haitians on flights 
under pandemic-related authority that denies migrants a chance to seek asylum. 
A third U.S. official not authorized to discuss operations said there were 
seven daily flights to Haiti planned starting Wednesday.

   Ten flights arrived in Haiti from Sunday to Tuesday in planes designed for 
135 passengers, according to Haitian officials, who didn't provide a complete 
count but said six of those flights carried 713 migrants combined.

   The camp held more than 14,000 people over the weekend, according to some 
estimates. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, during a visit Tuesday to Del Rio, said the 
county's top official told him the most recent tally was about 8,600 migrants. 
U.S. authorities have declined to say how many have been released in the U.S. 
in recent days.

   The Homeland Security Department has been busing Haitians from Del Rio, a 
town of 35,000 people, to El Paso, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley along the 
Texas border, and this week added flights to Tucson, Arizona, the official 
said. They are processed by the Border Patrol at those locations.

   Criteria for deciding who is flown to Haiti and who is released in the U.S. 
are a mystery, but two officials said single adults were a priority. If 
previous handling of asylum-seekers is any guide, the administration is more 
likely to release those deemed vulnerable, including pregnant women, families 
with young children and those with medical issues.

   The Biden administration exempts unaccompanied children from expulsion 
flights on humanitarian grounds.

   The system is a "black box," said Wade McMullen, an attorney with Robert F. 
Kennedy Human Rights, who was in Del Rio. "Right now, we have no official 
access to understand what processes are underway, what protections are being 
provided for the migrants."

   On Wednesday, more than 300 migrants had been dropped off in Border Patrol 
vans by early afternoon at a welcome center staffed by the Val Verde Border 
Humanitarian Coalition. They waited for buses to Houston, a springboard to 
final destinations in the U.S. Many were required to wear ankle monitors, used 
to ensure they obey instructions to report to immigration authorities.

   "Hello. How are you?" volunteer Lupita De La Paz greeted them in Spanish. 
"We will help you. You have arrived in Del Rio, Texas. It's a small town. There 
are not many options. We will help you get to another place."

   Rabbiatu Yunusah, 34, waited with her 3-year-old daughter Laila, was headed 
to settle with an uncle in Huntsville, Alabama. She felt "very happy to be in 
this country, to be free."

   Jimy Fenelon, 25, and his partner, Elyrose Prophete, who is eight months 
pregnant, left the camp Tuesday and were headed to Florida to stay with an 
uncle.

   "Everyone has their luck. Some didn't have luck to get here." Fenelon said.

   Accounts of wide-scale releases -- some observed in Del Rio by Associated 
Press journalists -- are at odds with statements Monday by Homeland Security 
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who traveled to Del Rio to promise swift action.

   "If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned, your 
journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your 
family's life," he said at a news conference.

   Homeland Security, asked to comment on releases in the United States, said 
Wednesday that migrants who are not immediately expelled to Haiti may be 
detained or released with a notice to appear in immigration court or report to 
an immigration office, depending on available custody space.

   "The Biden Administration has reiterated that our borders are not open, and 
people should not make the dangerous journey," the department said in a 
statement. "Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, 
including expulsion."

   Meanwhile, Mexico has begun busing and flying Haitian migrants away from the 
U.S. border, signaling a new level of support for the United States as the camp 
presented President Joe Biden with a humanitarian and increasingly political 
challenge.

   The White House is facing sharp bipartisan condemnation. Republicans say 
Biden administration policies led Haitians to believe they would get asylum. 
Democrats are expressing outrage after images went viral this week of Border 
Patrol agents on horseback using aggressive tactics against the migrants.

   Immigrants have described a screening process at the camp where people were 
given colored tickets for four categories: single men; single women; pregnant 
women; and families with young children, McMullen said. The vast majority of 
immigrants he and other advocates have interviewed and who have been released 
into the U.S. have been families with young children and pregnant women.

   Wilgens Jean and his wife, Junia Michel, waited in Del Rio this week for 
relatives to send the $439 in bus fare to get to Springfield, Ohio, where 
Jean's brother lives. Michel, who is pregnant, huddled under the little shade 
the parking lot had to offer from the brutal heat. Her only request was for 
sunscreen that she softly rubbed on her pregnant belly.

   On the concrete in front of them lay two backpacks and a black garbage bag 
which held everything the couple owns. The pair left in Haiti in April and were 
in the Del Rio camp for five days. Jean said because his wife is expecting, 
they were released from the camp on Monday.

   "I entered by crossing the river," Jean said. "Immigration gave me a ticket."

   After an initial stay with family in San Antonio, Veillard eventually hopes 
to get to New York City to live with his sister. He will take any job he can 
find to support his growing family.

   Veillard and his wife left Haiti four years ago and had been living in 
Brazil until they began their journey to the United States in June, much of it 
on foot.

   "I don't know how I'm going to feel tomorrow but now I feel lucky," he said.