With everything else happening, from the Afghanistan withdrawal to continuing Covid-19 concerns, it’s easy to miss the major crisis that is boiling over on the U.S. southern border. For months now, the growing humanitarian crisis of abandoned children, a neverending flow of people, and general disinterest from the Biden administration in solving the problem have created a perfect storm of catastrophe growing worse by the day.
The most recent issue, only coming to light thanks to the dismal imagery that accompanies the story, is that of thousands of Haitian migrants waiting under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
The ground situation is abysmal, with thousands of people literally waiting on top of each other for the U.S. Border Patrol to process them. They are not being detained, they are free to leave or return back to Mexico, but they are waiting and the numbers seem to be growing by the day:
Thousands of migrants from Haiti are reportedly waiting underneath a bridge in Texas after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, amid an uptick in migration attempts by people from an island nation facing political upheaval, economic instability and fallout from natural disasters, but they still make up a small portion of the overall number of migrants attempting to cross the southern border.
More than 10,000 migrants are currently waiting to be processed at a makeshift site under a bridge linking the Texas city of Del Rio with Mexico, Del Rio’s mayor told Reuters on Thursday, and many of these migrants reportedly hail from Haiti.
This influx follows a months-long increase in the number of Haitians attempting to cross the southern border: U.S. Border Patrol apprehended some 6,768 people from Haiti last month, up from fewer than 5,000 in July, nearly 5,700 in June and just 2,700 in May.
As also reported alongside the story, the Biden administration’s FAA has cut access to flying drones overhead for the purposes of news gathering and journalism. Images of the crisis were pouring in on Thursday but that coverage is now being curtailed for purely political reasons:
FAA grounds Fox News drones near where thousands of migrants are sheltering under a bridge https://t.co/x2EVWY0ZNs pic.twitter.com/0Kce7BQeZo
— New York Post (@nypost) September 17, 2021
It’s no secret why these people would flee their home island of Haiti and seek a better life practically anywhere else. The recent earthquake and political coup in Haiti have left the island devastated with little economy and a lack of basic essentials. The issue of migrants gathering at the U.S. southern border, from a variety of countries, has been ongoing since the Biden administration refused to condemn those actions or try to remove any incentives for people to attempt a border crossing.
As Politico reported back in August, the Biden border plan has been a total disaster and the administration seems to have absolutely no answers or desire to fix the problem:
President Joe Biden in March wrote off a spike in the number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as a result, at least in part, of winter months being the safest time to make the trek. “It happens every single, solitary year,” he said.
Six months into his term, Biden and his team are being proved wrong.
The number of migrants apprehended at the border isn’t going down this summer, even as the heat makes the journey to the U.S. more dangerous. Instead, it has reached a 21-year high — and there’s a record number of unaccompanied children arriving, too.
The number of children being exploited and assaulted during these crossings is skyrocketing, and no one seems concerned either about the fentanyl crisis plaguing American cities.
As it stands now, under President Biden’s direct leadership, the U.S. southern border remains porous for anyone wishing to cross. Most of them, probably the vast majority of them, are simply seeking a life in America that is immeasurably better than where they left. That does not excuse breaking U.S. immigration law or make up for the strain created on the U.S. healthcare, education, and welfare systems which will be forced to absorb these thousands and thousands of people crossing every day.
The Biden administration has tried to blame the Trump administration, though on every key statistic, Biden’s actions have made the problem far worse since he took office than it ever was under the previous administration.
As for the 10,000+ Haitian migrants living under a bridge, the Biden administration is desperately trying to solve that crisis quietly and pretend everything is fine at the border.
Even some within the President’s own party, such as Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, have been very critical of the administration’s lax efforts. The issue cuts partisan lines at this point, and the matter will eventually reach a boiling point in some form. The issue also cuts deep into national security and public health as well, especially related to Covid infection rates.
Until the Biden administration gets serious and attempts to deter people from trying to enter the country illegally, the problem will only continue to get worse.
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