Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has deployed a force of nearly 1,000 Highway Patrol troopers and National Guard soldiers to stop the continuous flow of Haitian migrants from crossing the Rio Grande. The makeshift migrant camp under the Del Rio International Bridge has grown to nearly 15,000.
The troopers used vehicles and barbed wire to block access to the weir dam on Saturday. Migrants were utilizing the dam as the primary point of crossing from Mexico.
The crossing stopped entirely late on Saturday after the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) blocked the entry with vehicles and a barbed-wire barrier.
The Border Patrol and local authorities provide the illegals with food and water; however, many chose to bring their own provisions from Acuna. The primitive shelters alongside the bridge have been constructed by migrants bringing cardboard and other materials. The migrants began arriving in significant numbers earlier this month, as Breitbart Texas first reported.
There are other ways for the migrants to cross the river, but none provide the easy, shallow access as the dam does. It will be nearly impossible to bring goods and supplies into the camp from Mexico. Authorities are worried about building tensions in the make-shift camp with the swelling population.
As part of Operation Lone Star, troopers and Guardsmen have been in the border communities since March. According to a source within DPS, local hotels in the Del Rio area have been at capacity with residents hosting troopers.
The U.S Department of Homeland Security has proposed a six-point plan to address the situation at the camp. The closure of two Ports of Entry in Del Rio and 400 additional Border Patrol agents is included in the program, aiming to improve the conditions of the camps and remove the migrants to other countries.
Sunday, there are plans for two removal flights to Haiti; that pace is expected to continue six days per week.
