Thousands of Central American refugees and migrants have gathered near a bridge connecting Mexico and Texas, creating a makeshift camp full of little supplies and intense heat.

Bruno Lozano, the mayor of Del Rio, said that as of Thursday evening, 10,503 people have been under the bridge.

People in the area said they had little food and water, and the heat index reached over 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
They are mostly Haitians, with Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans also present.

Joe Frank Martinez, a sheriff in Val Verde County, Texas, said; that the Border Patrol is overwhelmed; due to the influx of immigrants. He said that they can’t process everyone properly.

The squalid conditions at the US-Mexico border are reflective of the humanitarian situation facing Vice President Joe Biden as border arrests spike.

Health and safety concerns; were raised about the thousands of people who flocked to the camp since it was declared a disaster area.
“The Biden administration cannot claim it is doing everything it can to support the Haitian community while continuing to unjustly deport Haitians as the island weathers its worst political, public health, and economic crises yet,” congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said in a statement.

“This is a disaster, and it is a manmade disaster. It is the result of political decisions, and Joe Biden could end this tomorrow by simply following the law,” the Republican senator Ted Cruz said in Del Rio on Thursday.

 

The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, a Republican, directed the department of public safety and the Texas national guard to shutter six ports of entry along the southern border “to stop these caravans from overrunning our state”; he told the Texas Tribune on Thursday.

The issue at the southern border has been a top priority for the Biden administration; even though some of its policy adjustments have resulted in judicial victories.

A federal judge on Thursday prevented the administration from turning away migrant families with children; who were subject to a public health order relating to the coronavirus outbreak, marking a setback for the administration.