Molly Hennessy-Fiske Profile picture
Sep 20, 2021 17 tweets 9 min read Read on X
Thread: A day in the migrant camp of about 14,000, mainly Haitians, near the border bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
2/@CBP doesn’t allow press to enter the camp from the U.S. and closed the border bridge, so I crossed to the East, drove through Mexico and waded across the Rio Grande.
3/Haitian migrants I met spoke Creole to each other, but many also spoke Spanish, some French and English. These guys told me in French that they were deciding whether to return to the camp or stay in Mexico.
4/The sheer number of people at this U.S. camp was striking.
5/Haitians migrants have lived on the Texas banks of the Río Grande for more than a week, long enough for them to build scores of huts from Carrizo cane lining the river. This couple is living in one with their daughter - the mother is 9 months pregnant.
6/I met several pregnant women at the camp today. Charles Slondie, 28, is five months pregnant and has her 2 year old son with her. They left Haiti two months ago. She was trying to get water to mix his powdered formula Sunday - she only had a half bottle.
7/They wanted to show the food each family received for the day. Some are families of five or six.
8/At one point, @CBP agents passed me in horseback. The first pair didn’t stop. The second group asked who I was. I told them I was with @latimes “You might want to leave, it’s not safe here,” one of them said. I thanked him and kept talking to people for a while.
9/Migrants crossing to #DelRío #Texas Sunday from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.
10/I crossed with Haitian migrant Junior Desterville and went with him to see his family and their hut in the camp.
11/Here’s Junior with his 4 year-old daughter Nayalla, their hut area near the border bridge and the ticket they received from @CBP They’re not sure what it means. Other migrants told me people at the camp have been buying lower numbered tickets, hoping to be released sooner.
12/A lot of migrants at the camp - mostly Haitians, but also some Venezuelans - asked me whether they would be deported. They wanted to know why @CBP separated families from single migrants in different fenced areas of the camp - and why more singles have been leaving.
13/Lining up for food, which is kept in the fenced area beyond the bridge where @CBP and National Guard are stationed.
14/Jean Michel said he worried about his one year old daughter, Brihana, who had a fever. There’s no clinic in the camp; no Doctors. Emergencies get taken to the hospital, then returned.
15/Stay tuned to hear Haitian migrants speak for themselves on our @latimes podcast this week - in English and Spanish. Alex Bravener (right) talked to me about his American dream, how he ended up at the camp with his family and what he plans to do next.
16/Crossing back to Mexico, strong currents in the Rio Grande, weeds snagged ankles and others cut their toes on the rocks. Some who couldn't swim grabbed the rope and struggled.
17/I made it back to Acuna, but I'm a strong swimmer and I faltered. It's a dangerous crossing even on a bright, sunny day with help. Migrants are crossing to buy food and water.

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More from @mollyhf

Jun 30, 2023
I spent time in small town #Texas with @AverieDanielle aka #MissTexas who handles rattlesnakes, eats Texas-shaped waffles and posts videos on her viral TikTok about her controversial platform: Diversity and inclusion. With @sflores photo, my video n links:
washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06…
2/Thanks to everyone who took time with us, especially folks in Fairfield, at Miss Texas and @AverieDanielle whose reign ends tomorrow. After watching prelims this week, I'll be watching the finals tomorrow livestreaming.
3/Can you spot the @washingtonpost reporter in her Fairfield TikTok? tiktok.com/t/ZT8efeUkL/
Read 4 tweets
Nov 12, 2022
The latest: Democrats surged to flip state legislatures, defying past GOP gains washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…
2/Some extra: In Minneapolis’s outer-ring suburbs, Matt Norris, 33, a lawyer and policy director at a statewide youth non-profit, ran for the first time and won with 51% of the vote, narrowly beating a Republican incumbent who belonged to the Oath Keepers militia.
3/In a district with a population of 42,000, Norris said his campaign knocked on 39,000 doors, telling voters how he successfully lobbied to recently pass bi-partisan bills that ensured unemployment assistance for youth/seniors during the pandemic and youth workforce training.
Read 8 tweets
Jun 25, 2022
1/What happened to providers, patients and protesters at one #Texas clinic when #RoeVsWade was overturned latimes.com/world-nation/s…
2/Dr. Alan Braid (right) and clinic executive administrator Andrea Gallegos (left) in the clinic lobby explaining what #SCOTUS ruling meant for patients: they could not get scheduled abortions today.
3/Clinic staff consoled patients, gave them handouts directing them to out of state clinics and web sites that distribute abortion medication by mail.
Read 8 tweets
Sep 17, 2021
I went up to Kansas to talk to folks at Trust Women clinic about the Texas abortion ban - including a woman who had to travel overnight. latimes.com/world-nation/s…
2/I also spoke with protesters outside the Wichita clinic who said they were encouraged by the Texas abortion ban. Image
3/“They told us to get ready because people are going to come from south and all over to get here,” said Joseph Elmore, 73, who was protesting outside the Kansas clinic. ImageImageImage
Read 12 tweets
Oct 5, 2020
A year ago, I met transgender migrant Mayela Villegas, 27, in a Mexican border tent camp before she crossed legally to claim asylum in Texas. At the end of May, a friend contacted me to say Mayela had died. latimes.com/world-nation/s…
2/ Mayela’s friend had a question for me after she died: “Is there any way you can help us find what happened to her?” Here’s what I found.
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
3/Mayela’s friend Deisy Polanco told me she had struggled since arriving in Houston. Mayela lived with conservative, religious family members who called her by her male birth name and male pronouns. “For me, you’re Mayela,” Polanco would tell her. “I don’t know any other name.”
Read 10 tweets
Oct 1, 2020
@GregAbbott_TX reduced the number of locations where voters can drop mail-in ballots, claiming he was “enhancing ballot security.”
As of Friday, mail ballots can only be delivered by eligible voters to a single location in each of Texas’s 254 counties.
2/ #Texas #PollWatchers may observe in-person ballot deliveries at each county location.
“These enhanced security protocols will ensure greater transparency and will help stop attempts at illegal voting,” @GregAbbott_TX said
3/ Harris County, which includes Houston, is the third-largest county in the country by population with 2 million registered voters. Before Abbott’s announcement, the county had a dozen ballot drop-off locations. #TX is one of five states already barring widespread mail-in voting
Read 6 tweets

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