蜜芽传媒

The Biden administration has begun mass repatriations of would-be immigrants from Haiti after thousands took shelter under a bridge in a small Texas town.

Three full passenger planes arrived in the Haitian capital, Port Au Prince, on Sunday, and more flights are expected in the coming days.

More than 13,000 people - mainly from Haiti - have gathered beneath the Del Rio flyover between Mexico and Texas over the last week. An emergency public health order known as 'Title 42' - brought in by President Trump in response to Covid-19 - allows authorities to expel most migrants before they have the chance to claim asylum.

Gabrielle Apollon is a lawyer who gives Haitian migrants legal advice through the New York-based Haiti Project.

"Two or three months ago, the Biden administration said that Haiti is incapable of safely repatriating its citizens and redesignated Haiti for temporary protective status which allows people to not be deported. This was before the earthquake and before the assassination, and yet they've decided to expedite and accelerate deportations."

(Photo: US Border Patrol agents try to stop Haitian migrants from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande. Credit: AFP)

Show less