WASHINGTON, 26 September 2021, (TON): A Texas border encampment where about 15,000 migrants had set up makeshift shelters has been cleared, as authorities continued a controversial policy of expelling asylum seekers from the United States.

Workers finished removing the last debris of impromptu shelters and tents in Del Rio, Texas, as state troopers lined the banks of the Rio Grande, on the border with Mexico, to discourage new crossings.

US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said “there are no longer any migrants in the camp underneath the Del Rio International Bridge”.

Nearly 30,000 migrants, many of them from Haiti, had been camping underneath Del Rio International Bridge in the past two weeks.

According to Mayorkas, more than 12,000 migrants will have a chance to make their case for protection before US immigration judges, an estimated 8,000 voluntarily returned to Mexico, and 2,000 had been expelled.

More could be expelled in the coming days under pandemic powers that deny people the chance to seek asylum. A US official with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press news agency six flights were scheduled to Haiti on Friday, with seven planned on Saturday and six on Sunday, though that was subject to change.