Anger has been rising in the United States against the Biden administration’s crackdown on migrants after hundreds of Haitians were deported and footage showed border guards on horseback whipping at migrants attempting to cross the Rio Grande. Last weekend, the US started flying out migrants from a Texas border town which has seen an influx in recent weeks, with 360 people rapidly expelled from the US over the past three days.
On Tuesday, migrants at the airport in Port-au-Prince rushed back towards the plane they had arrived on, while others threw shoes at the jet. Thousands of Haitians have fled the country due to a combination of political instability following the assassination of the president in August and an earthquake in the same month that left more than 1,200 people dead. Democratic lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to stop deporting those who’ve fled Haiti for the US, but the White House remains committed to returning them. About 13,000 would-be immigrants have gathered under a bridge connecting Del Rio in Texas to Ciudad Acuña in Mexico. Separately reports have emerged of thousands – mostly Haitians – stranded near the border between Colombia and Panama. Chaos unfolded at Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture airport as one man attempted to re-board the aircraft. The plane’s crew rushed to close the jet’s doors in time, Reuters news agency reports. Video footage taken at the airport shows people scrambling for their personal belongings after their bags were dumped out of the plane. There are reports that some migrants were not told they would be returning to Haiti.
