"If the American people knew the truth at the border, they would be crying and screaming from the rooftops," insisted Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas). As of yesterday, nearly 15,000 migrants were huddled together under a bridge in the small border town of Del Rio (normal population approximately 35,000) due west of San Antonio, with hundreds more arriving every hour. Many migrants are simply wading through knee-deep water across a small dam in the Rio Grande. Most of the migrants arrived since Wednesday, when there were only 4,000. Border patrol has sent more agents to the area given reports that tens of thousands of migrants are on their way.
Strangely, most of the migrants are Haitian. Haiti lies on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, southeast of Cuba. It lies nearly 2,000 miles from Del Rio, Texas, as the drone flies, farther than it is from Milwaukee, Canada, or Peru. Haitians traveling to Del Rio must somehow reach the mainland and then travel around Texas' southern tip before heading north. To complicate travel through Mexico, most Haitians speak French and have African heritage, making them distinct from Spanish-speaking Latinos and thus more vulnerable to targeting by drug cartels.
Why are Haitians risking their lives just reach the United States? The small, impoverished, earthquake-devastated nation endured another major quake last month, as a 7.2-magnitude quake killed 2,100. Their economic woes are compounded by political instability (the president was assassinated in July). That explains why Haitians are fleeing their homeland. But to travel so far in hopes of entering the United States, Haitians must further believe that America offers the best prospects of security, prosperity, and freedom. The so-called "systemic racism" certainly doesn't daunt these immigrants.
Why are so many Haitians flooding America's southern border so suddenly? On September 8, the Biden administration announced they would no longer deport migrants back to Haiti. Like a movie with an obvious plot twist, the sudden influx of Haitian migrants surprises no one. "They wouldn't take the journey in the first place if they were going to have to wait in Mexico," said Fallon. Instead, "they can call back home and say, 'yeah, I'm here. I'm in the United States."
Fallon warned what is 15,000 Haitians could become "a hundred thousand Haitians in a few months." Even the Biden administration has recognized they have a problem, and have already resumed deportation flights to Haiti. It could be too little, too late; DHS is planning "up to three flights per day;" that pitiful effort may not even keep up with fresh arrivals, much less bring a swift conclusion to the humanitarian crisis and logistical nightmare that has increased the population of Del Rio by 50 percent. That's also three flights a day the administration wouldn't have to pay for if its actions had not invited the migrants to make the life-threatening trek in the first place.
The Leftists controlling America's policy are tithing their mint, dill, and cumin while ignoring the weightier matters of the law. Don't secure the border against 1.7 million migrants in the past fiscal year. Do massively overreact to a couple hundred protestors at the Capitol. Don't require migrants to get vaccinated against COVID as a condition of entry. Do mandate employers fire American citizens who refuse it. Don't evacuate all Americans from Afghanistan. Don't vet the Afghans we flew out of the country either. For a president "polling poorly and... underwater on everything else," as Fallon said, cracking down on the border crisis should be a top priority.
