CIUDAD ACUÑA, Mexico — The Biden administration Sunday began deporting people from the makeshift camp where nearly 14,000 migrants have gathered beneath a South Texas bridge amid food shortages and deteriorating sanitary conditions.

In a midday news conference, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said the federal government had moved 3,300 individuals from the camp Sunday to migrant processing facilities.

“We are working around-the-clock to expeditiously move migrants out of the heat, elements and from underneath this bridge to our processing facilities in order to quickly process and remove individuals from the United States consistent with our laws and our policies,” said Ortiz, adding it will be done in a “humane and timely manner.”.

The Biden administration is conducting the deportations under Title 42, the Trump-era public health order that President Biden has kept in place to push migrants south of the border during the covid-19 pandemic.

They will be removed and they will be sent back to their country of origin,” Ortiz said.

Deteriorating social and economic conditions — worsened by the pandemic — in the South American country became too hostile to bear for Joseph, forcing her, her husband and two young children to join a persistent exodus of her compatriots to the northern half of the Americas.

“I never expected any of this,” the bewildered Joseph said as she prepared to make her own crossing, grabbing a bag of recently bought groceries.

“We go with fear, but we go determined to make the sacrifices for our families.

While it’s not clear how or why thousands of specifically French-, Creole- and Spanish-speaking Haitians converged simultaneously on this isolated outpost of the U.S.-Mexico border, what is clear is that many of their migration stories began long ago.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Rios, whose family pulled out power strips from inside the home allowing migrants to charge their phones.

These migrants have families en route, and they have families who already made it through weeks before them.”.

As a lightning storm darkened the sky, Texas state troopers yelled at migrants to clear the spillway, cordoning off the area and closing river access to the itinerant camp residents.

Wherever there is people, there is money and the opportunity to make more, migrants said.

It was important to her that the migrants obtain basic goods that may not be available at the camp.

Before this latest mass of migrants, Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans regularly opted for the Ciudad Acuña-Del Rio crossing point to surrender to Border Patrol.

They had been told by other migrants, compatriots and family members who had gone before them that once in custody, there was a high likelihood they would be released.

That is what Gerlin Dominguez, who traveled from Venezuela, expected before encountering the camp

Buying things in Mexico, including soap and wipes, is a boon to the local businesses but its also imperative for the migrants because there is nothing at the camp

While city and county officials fear agitation and restlessness could lead to violence or unrest, Dominguez said most migrants endure calmly, holding on dearly to their ticket numbers and are careful not to do anything to compromise their spot in line