By Lizbeth Diaz

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) – Many Haitians who are heading for the U.S. border as thousands of their compatriots were cleared out of a frontier camp are giving thought to finding work in Mexico if measures to curb entry to the United States stay tough.

The United States announced Friday that thousands of Haitian migrants had left a border camp in between Ciudad Acuna and Del Rio, Texas. While some were flown home, others remain in the United States.

For several weeks, Haitians have fled the economic, political, and social chaos of their Caribbean homeland. Many others are moving to Mexico and Central America in hopes for better living conditions in America.

Officials are concerned that there could be mass migrations to the United States from northern Mexico, where thousands have fled in recent weeks.

About 2,000 Haitians are reportedly residing in Monterrey, a city located a hundred kilometers from the southeast. These numbers were compiled by refugee camps.

Marck Lender (30 years old), a Haitian national who traveled from Chile said that he’d wait until he got the paperwork necessary to legally stay in his country.

“I fear the migration authorities and I don’t want to get deported,” said Marck Lender. “If there is work for me in Mexico, then I will come here.

Nearly 30,000 migrants have been reported to be in Del Rio during the past week, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security. None were found in the camp on Friday.

There will be more than 12,000 asylum seekers who can present their cases before U.S. immigration courts. A total of 8,000 migrants have already returned home to Mexico while 2,000 others were sent to Haiti. Other detained migrants are still waiting to find out their fate.

Roberson, a 42 years old Haitian seller, claimed he is fed up paying money for “guides”. He had also just applied for asylum in Mexico.

Roberson said, “We have been treated very badly on this whole trip and they have charged us a lot for getting here.”

Roberson said that he was married with children from Haiti. He declined to reveal his name. Roberson said that he would like to work in Monterrey or the border towns of Tijuana and Mexicali.

Many more Haitians are making their way through Central America. Others, including an estimated 16,000, await boats to enter the Darien Gap, Panama’s jungle, which is a dangerous and often deadly bottleneck in the north.

Panamanian authorities announced Friday that they have found a skeleton, nine bodies and nine other victims of heat stroke in the region of Embera-Wounaan.

Haiti’s political crisis has been exacerbated by gang violence, natural disasters, and ongoing political instability that reached its peak in July when Jovenel Moise was assassinated.