Department of Homeland Security officials report the removal of only 1,401 Haitian migrants via repatriation flights since Sunday. On Sunday, the population of the Del Rio Migrant Camp peaked at more than 15,000. Roughly 5,000 remain in the camp as of Thursday morning.
The mostly Haitian migrant camp under the Del Rio International Bridge grew in population to nearly 15,000 on Sunday morning, Breitbart Texas reported. Later that day, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz promised, “They will be removed and will be sent back to their country of origin.”
Breitbart reported the first flights of migrants to Haiti under the Trump-era Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocol. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to Del Rio on Monday and reiterated his promise to step up removal flights.
In response to an inquiry from Breitbart, DHS officials reported the agency conducted 12 repatriation flights since Sunday. Those flights removed 1,401 Haitians. This includes three flights on Wednesday to Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien, Haiti. Those three flights carried 318 Haitians.
The Department also reported they removed 3,206 Haitian nationals from the Del Rio camp to “CBP custody or to other sectors of the United States border to be expelled via Title 42 if possible or placed into removal proceedings.”
The officials report that less than 5,000 migrants remain in the camp in the Del Rio Sector as of Thursday morning.
Considering 15,000 migrants in the camp on Sunday less the 1,401 expelled by air to Haiti; the 3,206 removed to other locations within the U.S.; and the 5,000 migrants remaining inside the camp on Thursday, this leaves nearly 5,400 migrants unaccounted for by DHS reports.
Breitbart asked DHS for an accounting of the 5,400 migrants who are not in the camp, have not been repatriated, and have not left the camp. A response has not yet been received. Officials also did not disclose how many of the removed migrants were single adults versus family units.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.