At least 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants (joined by Cubans and other nationalities) have crossed the Rio Grande and occupied "a massive beachhead" near Del Rio, Texas, a report said, adding that hundreds more are pouring across the open border on an hourly basis amid an "obvious" Border Patrol "stand down order."
The site of the massive encampment is "unparalleled in size, filth, and as an escalating management challenge to a Joe Biden administration that has so far refused to publicly acknowledge it," Todd Bensman reported for the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) on Sept. 17. "But this remarkable development in the border crisis will not be ignored for long as hundreds of new migrants per hour arrive, far faster than Border Patrol agents and National Guard personnel process them."
Some reports say tens of thousands more are heading to Del Rio through northern Mexico.
“In my 20-year career, I have never seen anything this out of control,” one Border Patrol officer told CIS.
Bensman noted that the migrants "have spread out over a sandy mix of open and vegetation-thick land, the greatest concentrations centered for 200 yards under the international bridge but spreading westward along a riverbank 'drag' road for at least a half mile. The migrants seem content – for now – to allow themselves to be contained by chain link perimeter fencing on the north to await Border Patrol 'processing' into the United States as temporary legal residents. Most will end up taking buses or planes to resettle throughout the country on an honor system that presumes they will claim asylum at some point."
During a press briefing, Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano said federal authorities have told him that so many immigrants have filled the site that wait times have reached three weeks at current federal resources.
That, Bensman said, "explains other activity CIS saw at the beachhead. Migrants were building huts out of available materials, clearly planning to stay for a time. In fact, a makeshift village was forming. Some families brought camping tents. Others were tearing down trees for branches to use as framing over which they might put a tarp or blanket."
While Customs and Border Protection has expanded the number of portable toilets at the site, Bensman said it "is not, evidently, providing food or water. Hence, CIS noticed a steady counter-traffic of people crossing back into Mexico, against the flow of new arrivals or returning procurers, to purchase food, fresh water, and other necessities and then to bring the items back into the beachhead. At the crossing points, therefore, crowds of people swirled and mingled, some carrying retail goods on their heads."
The migrants, Bensman noted, "bathe in the Rio Grande and wash their clothing, leaving it to dry on lines strung between trees or on rocks. Everywhere, trash piled up and lay strewn along the ground."
Bensman continued: "Privately, CPB employees have expressed outrage and dismay that the Biden administration is allowing unfettered entry like this, which entices ever more immigrants to head for the new Texas beachhead. This kind of sanctioned mass illegal immigration has been taking place most often hundreds of miles downriver since Joe Biden entered office and dismantled Donald Trump’s deterrence-based policies, promised amnesty, and ended most deportation operations.
"Several officers also expressed fear that, should these immigrants become impatient with the ever-extending process periods under these living conditions, they will riot and easily overwhelm the relatively few available Border Patrol, National Guard, and Texas Department of Public Safety officers available for security."
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