A March 2022 report from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the Haitian Bridge Alliance included this testimony from a Haitian migrant who claims that CBP actions endangered him while crossing the Rio Grande during the September 2021 mass migration event in Del Rio, Texas.
One Haitian migrant described how as he was attempting to cross the Rio Grande and return to the encampment with food for himself and others, a CBP officer dismounted from his horse and deliberately cut the rope the migrant was using to navigate the deep water and strong current of the river.[186] He was in the middle of the river when the officer cut the rope and watched as the officer threw the severed rope into the Rio Grande and shouted that they could not return to the American side of the border. When the rope was cut, several other Haitians attempting to cross fell into the river and struggled to swim. He noted that “I thought I was going to die. I went through a lot of misery.”[187] This individual also saw CBP personnel hit and push Haitians closer to the river bank back into the water.
—Beyond the Bridge: Documented Human Rights Abuses and Civil Rights Violations Against Haitian Migrants in the Del Rio, Texas Encampment (United States: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Haitian Bridge Alliance, March 29, 2022) https://rfkhr.imgix.net/asset/Del-Rio-Report.pdf.
Footnotes from above:
[186]: In-person interview by RFK Human Rights lawyer with Haitian individual in Acuña, Mexico (Sept. 25, 2021).[187]: In-person interview by RFK Human Rights lawyer with Haitian individual in Acuña, Mexico (Sept. 25, 2021).