DEL RIO, Texas — The images under the International Bridge in Del Río are shocking — more than 10,000 migrants crowded in triple digit heat.
Children are sleeping right next to porta potties as about 10,000 other migrants sleep where they can on mats on the floor.
On the other side of the Rio Grande in Ciudad, Acuña, thousands more wander the streets. The majority of them are from Haiti and affected by the recent earthquake.
Jean, a migrant who was walking with his son on his shoulders, said the need in Haiti is worse than anybody can imagine.
“I left because of my son. It was necessary. All her people here are very poor,” he said.
Migrants are walking through the streets looking for food and water. Some residents like Rebecca Meneses want to help. She lives very close to the river and decided to cook some chicken for them outside of her home. Meneses said Haitians arrived almost all at the same time, and suddenly thousands were walking by her house.
“There are just so many. I had never seen anything like this in Acuña,” she said, visibly emphatic.
In line waiting for a plate was Watson, who is one of the thousands of Haitians who arrived to Mexico from as far away as Brazil. He was getting ready to cross into the United States.
“My wife is hungry. Immigration is giving us trouble and we have to come back and look for food for our families,” he said.
Yards away from Rebecca’s home and through a hole in the fence is where all the migrants are reaching the river. The water in this portion of the river is so shallow that they can simply walk across freely and unimpeded.
It is an unusual scene, even for people in this border town who have almost seen it all. A long line of migrants walk in both directions as Mexican police are on scene, however, they don’t intervene.
On the other side, Border Patrol is also absent and they can walk straight to the bridge where authorities of different agencies receive them and keep them from going outside of the perimeter fence of the international bridge.
However, with so many, Border Patrol cannot process them all quickly enough, and there’s no space at the small processing center in Del Río.
As a result, Border Patrol gives them a numbered ticket, while more and more keep on coming. And many are getting desperate already said Dominique, a migrant who also came back to Mexico for food.
Speaking in French, he sent a message to authorities, “They need to hurry up. It is torture for us down there. We have no water and no food. It smells like excrement and there’s a lot of people sick,” he said.
It can take days for migrants to get their turn and be bused out for processing. That’s why they must go back across the river to Mexico for food as U.S. authorities are not allowing any one inside and food can’t reach them.
For Meneses, this is a tragedy that has arrived right at her door steps. It’s something she just can’t ignore she said.
“When it’s time for them to sleep they just lay on the floor. I feel so sorry for the children, for all the people who have drowned looking for the American dream,” Meneses said.
She and other residents just hope something can be done fast. This small town can’t receive so many people at the same time she said.
And in fact, authorities are projecting 15,000 migrants by the end of the week. To put it in perspective, Del Río has a population of about 35,000.
