Roughly 4,000 Haitian migrants at southern border have been deported

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - It’s been a week since the area at the southern border near Del Rio where more than 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants arrived hoping to get into the U.S. has been completely cleared.

Texas A&M immigration and southern border expert Aileen Teague joined First News at Four to break down where those migrants went.

“4,000 of the migrants have been deported, many of them back to Haiti,” Teague explained, “and more than 8,000 are currently in line for processing.”

She says increased state-led efforts in Texas to stop the recent rash of large numbers of migrants arriving at the border have done little to curb the surge. Teague explained that’s because the pandemic is pushing migrants to take desperate measures just to survive. She said the vague border policy from the Biden administration has not helped either.

“It’s been a combination of issues of lack of opportunity in South American countries as a result of COVID,” Teague explained, “but then also the failure of the Biden administration to articulate a clear policy. Many of these migrants thought that they would be absorbed into the United States and be able to apply for asylum or some sort of immigration status.”

Watch the full interview in the player above.

Copyright 2021 KBTX. All rights reserved.