By Daina Beth Solomon

CIUDAD ACUNA (Reuters) – A migrant camp in Texas near the Mexican border where as many as 14,000 Haitians amassed in recent days has shrunk to less than half that size amid expulsion flights and detentions, even as some stay, committed to trying to remain in the United States.

Late Wednesday, DHS reported that the United States had taken 3,206 migrants into custody and returned 1,401 of the camp’s Del Rio (Texas) residents to Haiti.

Wade McMullen is an attorney for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organisation. He said that hundreds of people including pregnant women and families with children had been freed in Del Rio (Texas) over the past few days.

These people and other detained persons who were not expelled will be scheduled for immigration court dates.

DHS stated that the Del Rio region, including the camp where families crowded into temporary shelters built from reeds along the Rio Grande banks, is now home to fewer than 5K people.

These deportations took place amid deep instability in the Caribbean nation. This country is the most poor in the Western Hemisphere. Gang violence, an assassination attempt and a massive earthquake in recent weeks have all contributed to chaos.

Filippo Grandi (head of U.N. refugee agency) warned that U.S. expulsions from Haiti could be in violation international law.

Additional hundreds of Haitians, living on the other bank of the river, are sheltering in Ciudad Acuna with blankets, bits of cardboard, and small tarps or tents.

In a Wednesday statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross urged protection for Haitians in Mexico. It noted their “special vulnerability” and called for assistance.

STAY or GO?

Some Haitian families are choosing to live in Mexico, rather than return to Haiti as the U.S. has escalated their expulsion flights.

After hearing of the expulsions, Wendy and Enex planned to remain in Mexico with their daughter, 2 years old.

On Wednesday morning, however, their cousin informed them via WhatsApp that he was able to enter the United States along with his wife. He also had an October court date for asylum requests.

I’m now free. The message stated that Enex and Wendy were free to go wherever they wanted.

Wendy and Enex, who requested not to reveal their last names, were paralyzed on Wednesday by fear and uncertainty. They finally got up and crossed the river to the U.S. to see if they could make it. This was the latest turning point of their journey from Chile, which included seven days in the Darien jungle.

More than a thousand Haitians, many of whom have waited for answers on their asylum claims in southern Mexico for months, made the trip north this week to Mexico City, Veracruz and Monterrey.

Mexico’s Refugee Agency, COMAR said there were no available appointments in Tapachula (near the Guatemala border) until next year due to high demand and many of its pending appointments have been rescheduled.

Juliana Exime is a Haitian immigrant who decided to wait and see what happened in Tapachula.

Exime explained that she was planning to join a group headed north but is now afraid of being deported. The only thing that I would like is to be allowed to work in Mexico. I’m looking for legal ways.