Former President Donald Trump said the country is becoming a “cesspool of humanity” as the Biden administration scrambles to handle the more than 14,000 mainly Haitian migrants living in a makeshift camp under a bridge in Texas.
“The largest number of illegal aliens in the history of our Country are pouring in by the millions. They are totally unchecked and unvetted, can do whatever they want, and go wherever they want,” Trump said in an emailed statement on Sunday.
“Our Country is rapidly becoming a cesspool of humanity. Murderers, drug dealers, and criminals of all shapes and sizes are a big part of this massive migration,” the former president said.
More than 14,000 Haitians have been camping out in squalid conditions under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, since last week waiting to be arrested, leading the Biden administration to close an entry point, reroute traffic, deploy more Border Patrol agents and arrange flights, which could begin as soon as Sunday, to return them to the Caribbean nation.
“Tens of thousands of people are coming from Haiti, and many now from countries in Africa, even more so now than South America. Nothing is done and the corrupt Mainstream Media is giving almost no attention to what will be perhaps the greatest Crisis in the history of our Country,” said Trump, noting that it’s not only a crisis at the border, it’s a “Crisis Crisis.”
A US government official told the Associated Press on Sunday that the flights could start on Sunday and said there could be as many as eight a day in an effort to deter others from seeking asylum in the US.
Ariel Henry, Haiti’s prime minister, posted on Twitter that he is worried about the “extremely difficult” conditions at the border camp and said Haitians would be welcomed back.
“We want to reassure them that measures have already been taken to give them a better welcome upon their return to the country and that they will not be left behind,” he said.
Haiti is recovering from a devastating earthquake last month and the government is in turmoil following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in his home the month before.
Some Haitians said they do not want to return home.
“In Haiti, there is no security. The country is in a political crisis,” Fabricio Jean, 38, who arrived in Texas with his wife and two daughters, told the Associated Press.
Many of the Haitians arriving at the US border have come from South America where they fled after an earthquake in 2010 but failed to find jobs.
The arrival of the Haitians in Del Rio is only adding fuel to criticism surrounding President Biden’s handling of immigration at the southern border.
Upon taking office in January, Biden began rolling back or dumping many of Trump’s immigration policies that led many immigrants in Mexico and Central American countries to believe they would be welcome in the US.
Last month, there were more than 200,000 encounters with illegal immigrants — the second straight month the number exceeded 200,000.
The August figures show a 317 percent increase from a year ago.
