1,000 Haitian Migrants Apprehended Since June 10 at Texas Border

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 1,000 Haitian migrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico since June 10.

Officials in the Del Rio Sector located on the Central Texas border with Mexico report the apprehension of more than 1,000 migrants from Haiti who illegally crossed the Rio Grande since June 10, according to information provided by Border Patrol officials. Of those more than 1,000 Haitian migrants, officials report more than 800 are composed of Family Unit Aliens (FMUA).

Officials report that most of these family units are composed of a child with citizenship of a third country of origin. Most of these are South American minors from Brazil and Chile. It appears many of these Haitian migrants moved many years ago from Haiti to these South American countries and have now decided to migrate again to the U.S. — perhaps to take advantage of loopholes in U.S. immigration and asylum laws and the current flood of migrant families crossing the border in record numbers.

Officials report that more than 230 of the migrant children are nationals of Brazil and Chile but are the biological children of the Haitian migrants.

“Our agents are seeing a rise in Haitian nationals entering the country illegally which presents challenges that we are meeting head on,” Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz said in a written statement. “We will continue to do everything we can to care for these family units with small children.”

The Del Rio Sector is experiencing large numbers of “other than Mexican” migrants crossing the border illegally. Of the more than 40,000 migrants apprehended this fiscal year, 80 percent (more than 34,000) came from countries other than Mexico. Most of those being from the Northern Triangle region of Central America. However, in the past two months, the sector reported large numbers of migrants from Central Africa and Haiti.