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Haitian migrants arriving in Reynosa

2 years 6 months 6 days ago Tuesday, September 21 2021 Sep 21, 2021 September 21, 2021 9:40 AM September 21, 2021 in News - Immigration / Borderwall

Some Haitian migrants were able to make it to Reynosa looking for asylum in the U.S., but hundreds of others weren't so lucky.

With an already overflowing migrant camp across in Reynosa, Mexican officials are scrambling to move more migrants off the street.

READ ALSO: US officials defend deportation of Haitians from Texas town  

Ricardo Jefferson considers himself lucky.

"Locals here in Mexico want to help us, but the National Guard doesn't," Jefferson said in Spanish.

Jefferson lived in Brazil for nearly four years and is a part of a group of about 100 Haitian migrants that were able to make it to Reynosa.

RELATED: Tamaulipas migrant agency waits with uncertainty as migrants head toward US-Mexico border  

On Saturday, Felicia Rangel Samponaro with the Sidewalk School, an organization that provides resources for children asylum seekers on the border, was on the highway headed to Reynosa and saw how the group of 300 Haitians dwindled due to a military checkpoint.

"The Mexican military police-- they were initially helping by stopping traffic and blocking cars so they wouldn't hit all these men, women and children, babies that were along this highway," Samponaro said.

READ ALSO: Gov. Abbott requests federal emergency declaration from Biden in response to migrant surge in Del Rio  

Some migrants were detained by Mexican immigration officials as they headed north on a nearly 90-mile trek from San Fernando, Tamaulipas, to Reynosa.

Meanwhile, an already packed migrant camp in Reynosa has been concerning local officials for months as they go back and forth on ways to relocate migrants. Some migrants have been camped out since March.

READ ALSO: Officials urging Reynosa to find solution to overcrowding at migrant camp  

The director of the Tamaulipas migrant resource office in Reynosa says some nonprofits helping migrants are getting in the way of the state from being able to provide welfare checks on children in the camp and provide families with ways to get off the street.

Meanwhile, some Haitian migrants are getting immediate help through local shelters.

Ricardo Jefferson says he feels the U.S. is now within reach.

“You have to believe in what life brings you. You have to fight for what you want and keep pushing forward,” Jefferson said.

As migrants continue to arrive in Reynosa, the city has installed yellow tape to prevent more migrants from settling in a park located across the street from another migrant camp at La Plaza De La Republica.

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