English presentation on the situation in Del Rio, Texas

English presentation

Introduction

Famous image from the news/on social media.

• What is the current situation behind this picture? And what problems does it cause?

Plan

1.The situation in Del Rio, Texas

The images seen on social media show a refugee camp in Del Rio, Texas.

Located at the border with Mexico.

Around 15 000 migrants are crowded under the bridge. The camp has grown very rapidly because of the massive immigration during last September. Most of them come from Haiti and were in South America before they arrived in Del Rio. Texas is the last step of their long and perilous journey. To arrive to the camp, people had to cross the Rio Grande River.

The images show men, women, children and even babies living in tents, makeshift shelters in very bad sanitary conditions.

This massive influx generated a political crisis in the US.

In response to these massive arrivals, the Biden administration ordered the departure of all the migrants and patrols with vehicles have been set up. According to The Texas Tribune, 700 law enforcement officers took part in the expulsion of migrants.

The famous picture shows officers riding horses and flogging people show the huge tension at the border. This has been the subject of an inquiry.

A top official now announced that all refugees have been sent back to Haiti or to Mexico, or have been allowed to join their family members already in the US.

2.  Why the Haitians come to Texas  

The situation in Haiti

• Political instability

A coup d’état took place in February 2021.

Later, President Jovenel Moïse have been killed on 7th of July 2021. After his death, the prime minister of the country, Claude Joseph started to lead the country but his legitimacy to be in power is controversial.

🡪 generates a huge political instability

• Natural disasters

Haiti is located in an area with a strong seismic activity. This means that natural disasters and more particularly earthquakes arise very often.

The last to arise was this summer, during August: it killed more than 1900 people and injured many others. It also caused enormous material damages.

• Economic difficulties

Haiti's economic and social development is hindered (entravé) by political instability, governance issues, and fragility.

Haiti is among the poorest countries in the world.

The Haitian economy has been battered by multiple shocks since mid-2018. Even before COVID-19 hit, the economy was facing significant fiscal imbalances (déséquilibres financiers).

The situation in South America countries

The main reasons why Haitians leave South America countries are mostly:

- jobs have dried up

- some people couldn’t legalize their immigration status to be able to work legally in Chile

- some other were not able to afford to feed their children

- some people said they had enough of racism

The hope of a great welcome in Del Rio

- Migrants said they chose the small border city because they heard it was safer than other routes

- Federal officials have claimed there’s been misunderstanding by Haitians about who qualifies for a temporary protected status for Haitians after the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse on July 7. But that status was only granted for Haitians who were in the United States before July 29.

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