ACUNA, Mexico—Some of the thousands of illegal immigrants who have amassed near the Texas border are leaving the United States, returning to Mexico to pick up supplies or to avoid being deported back to their home countries.
Haitians and others were witnessed on Sept. 20 crossing the Rio Grande to enter Acuña, Mexico, as they consider their options following a U.S. crackdown on the illegal immigrant camp under the International Bridge just north of the border in Del Rio, Texas.
Phanel, a Haitian who has been living in Chile for three years, was one of the immigrants who went to Acuña. He told The Epoch Times he was stocking up on supplies, including water and fruit, after hearing around the encampment that everybody who stayed would be deported.
Phanel, who declined to give his last name, said he was considering what to do next.
Yaneth, 32, whose husband is Haitian, also expressed concern about being deported. She planned to venture back to Del Rio to get her family, including her partner, and return to Acuña to try to formulate a plan.
Recounting a harrowing journey from Chile, Yaneth said that most women who travel through the Darien jungle get raped.
“I’m not going back,” she said, adding that the family would likely go to a different part of the U.S.–Mexico border and try to cross there.
Nader Alth, 39, wasn’t as certain of heading to a different spot on the border. The Haitian native, who was with his 9-year-old son, was looking for a shelter in Mexico and said he’d stay there for now.
“It’s not an option to go back to Haiti,” he told The Epoch Times. “I can’t go back, they’ll kill me.”
By Charlotte Cuthbertson and Zachary Stieber
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