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A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 20 September 2021

US closes part of Texas border, begins flying Haitians home

made the crossing to and and Border Patrol holding vent any potential violence.
from Mexico through waist- facilities. Departure cities for
deep water. There were a few Haiti-bound flights have yet A minibus from the Inter-
U.S. officers observing the to be finalized and are being national Organization of
crossings, but taking no steps “actively planned,” the offi- Migration also was posted at
to stop them. cial said. the airport. It was filled with
brightly colored bags con-
Many of the migrants have The blockade and deporta- taining toiletries, hand sani-
lived in Latin America for tions marked a swift response tizer and hair ties.
years, but they are now are to the sudden arrival of Hai-
seeking asylum in the U.S. tians in Del Rio, a Texas All the deportees have been
as economic opportunities in city of about 35,000 people tested for COVID-19, and
Brazil and elsewhere dry up. roughly 145 miles (230 kilo- authorities are not planning
Thousands are living under meters) west of San Antonio. to put them into quarantine,
and near a bridge in Del Rio. It sits on a relatively remote said Marie-Lourde Jean-
stretch of border that lacks Charles with the Office of
(AP) — The United States Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Meanwhile, the U.S. sent capacity to hold and process National Migration.
acted Sunday to stem the Del Rio, Texas, for almost three flights of Haitians tak- such large numbers of peo-
flow of migrants into Tex- three weeks. Yellow police en from Del Rio back to their ple. Haitian Prime Minister Ar-
as by blocking the Mexi- tape was being used to block homeland, and that number iel Henry wrote Sunday on
can border at an isolated them from using a small dam is expected to reach at least The first plane arrived Sun- Twitter that he is concerned
town where thousands of to walk into the U.S. six per day shortly, accord- day afternoon at the Port-au- about conditions at the bor-
Haitian refugees have set ing to a U.S. government Prince airport. Families held der camp and that the mi-
up a camp, but the mi- A Mexican police officer on official who spoke on con- children by the hand or car- grants would be welcomed
grants quickly found oth- the Mexican side of the bor- dition of anonymity because ried them as they exited, and back.
er ways to cross nearby. der said migrants will not be the official was not allowed some deportees covered their
allowed to cross anymore. He to discuss the issue publicly. heads as they walked into a “We want to reassure them
The attempted border clo- would not give his name. But The planes left San Antonio large bus parked next to the that measures have already
sure happened as officials an Associated Press reporter and were expected to arrive plane. been taken to give them a
also began flying some of the saw Haitian immigrants still Sunday afternoon in Port-au- better welcome upon their
migrants back to their home- crossing the river into the Prince, Haiti’s capital. They about a dozen officials return to the country and
land. U.S. about 1.5 miles (2.4 ki- from various Haitian govern- that they will not be left be-
lometers) east of the previous A large number of buses ar- ment agencies gathered to hind,” he tweeted. Henry did
About a dozen Texas De- spot. rived Sunday in Del Rio, meet with the deported Hai- not provide details about the
partment of Public Safety and “many, many more” are tians. Public security officials measures. A Haitian govern-
vehicles lined up near the Several hundred were sitting coming to transfer Haitians with the Ministry of Justice ment spokesman could not
bridge and river where Hai- along the river bank on the to expulsion flights, U.S. im- requested the presence of be immediately reached for
tians have been crossing from U.S. side as 50 to 60 at a time migration detention centers Haiti’s national police to pre- comment.

Probe of Southern Baptist sex abuse response moves forward

(AP) — The Rev. Marshall several in which alleged perpetrators Bruce Frank, a North Carolina pastor ligious Liberty Commission, the
Blalock feels the weight of his remained in ministry. and task force chair. SBC’s public policy arm, recently in-
new responsibility. dicated the ERLC is willing to lead an
Appointed by new SBC President Ed The Executive Committee has wel- assessment of sexual abuse within the
The South Carolina pastor serves as Litton, the seven-member task force comed the selection of Guidepost, denomination, and set a plan in mo-
vice chair of a recently formed South- of pastoral, legal, counseling and ad- noting it is the same investigative tion to figure out how to do it.
ern Baptist Convention task force vocacy professionals is charged with firm it had planned to use before the
charged with overseeing an investiga- overseeing an outside firm’s probe of task force was formed. “The evil of abuse must continue to
tion into how a top denominational allegations that the Executive Com- be confronted,” Brent Leatherwood,
committee handled sex abuse allega- mittee mishandled abuse cases, re- “We look forward to meeting again the commission’s acting president,
tions, a review that comes years into sisted reforms and intimidated vic- with Guidepost in order to expedi- said in a statement. “As we’ve stated
the SBC’s public reckoning with the tims and advocates. tiously coordinate our activities in before, our churches must be safe for
scandal. support of their important work,” the survivors and safe from abuse.”
“We’re tired of abuse, and it has to be committee said this month in a state-
Blalock thinks the work of the task dealt with,” Litton, who was elected ment. The motion approved by delegates
force, set into motion in June by a in June amid divisions over race, at the June gathering directed the
vote of Southern Baptists at a nation- women’s roles in the church and how Jules Woodson, a church sexual abuse task force to agree to the standards
al gathering, could be a foundational to address the abuse issue, said dur- survivor based in Colorado Springs, and best practices recommended by
part of how the SBC addresses the is- ing a recent event. “But I also think Colorado, remains wary but is hope- the third-party investigator, “includ-
sue in the future. a clear message came out that this is ful that meaningful change may be ing but not limited to the Executive
not a witch hunt. That this is an op- ahead for the SBC. She was encour- Committee staff and members waiv-
“If the task force does what the con- portunity for us to pave the way for aged after meeting with the task force, ing attorney client privilege in order
vention’s asked us to do, if the Ex- the future.” she said, and is willing to engage with to ensure full access to information
ecutive Committee responds favor- Guidepost even though she is still and accuracy in the review.”
ably, I think we’re making huge first More than two months in, the task skeptical of the firm.
steps toward really setting the future force has completed two key tasks:
toward preventing and appropriately picking Guidepost Solutions to be “It is so hard as a survivor to put faith,
responding to and caring for sexual the third-party firm conducting hope and trust in people and pro-
abuse survivors,” Blalock said. the probe, and asking the Executive cesses and a system that has continu-
Committee to waive attorney-client ously failed us,” Woodson said. “For
The sex abuse scandal was thrust into privilege for the purposes of the in- the first time in forever, we are finally
the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark vestigation at its upcoming business seeing steps being taken in the right
report from the Houston Chroni- meeting. direction.”
cle and San Antonio Express-News
documenting hundreds of cases in “It’s all about uncovering the truth She said she cried tears of joy when
Southern Baptist churches, including so we can deal with it,” said the Rev. the trustees of the Ethics and Re-