Sept. 20 (UPI) — Tropical Storm Peter, the 16th named system of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, is projected to pass multiple islands in the Caribbean in the coming days.

Peter, which became a tropical storm early Sunday, is on track to move close to the Northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico through Tuesday, forecasters said.

In its 5 a.m. EDT Update, the National Hurricane Center said Peter was located 245 miles northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. It was moving northwest at 14 mph.

Forecasters said a gradual decrease in forward speed is expected through Tuesday, with a turn to the northwest expected by Wednesday.

The storm is not expected to impact the United States mainland.

Compared to the record-setting 2020 hurricane season, Peter arrived a little late. Last year, the 16th storm, Paulette, developed on Sept. 7.

Tropical Storm Rose also formed on Sunday, becoming the 17th named storm of the season, and is projected to follow a similar movement as Peter.

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MEXICO CITY, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Latin American and Caribbean nations should aspire to a bloc like the European Union, Mexico’s president and other leaders said at a summit on Saturday, in a bid to wrest influence away from the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS).

For years, a few of the region’s leftist standard-bearers who attended the gathering of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) have viewed the OAS as too close to the United States, resenting in particular its exclusion of Cuba from its members states.

The host of Saturday’s summit, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told more than a dozen presidents and prime ministers at the opening ceremony that such a revamped diplomatic body could better boost the region’s inequality-stricken economies as well as confront health and other crises.

“In these times, CELAC can become the principal instrument to consolidate relations between our Latin American and Caribbean nations,” he said in a cavernous ballroomat Mexico’s ornate national palace where leaders took turns speaking and some sparks flewbetween ideological adversaries.

“We should build in the American continent something similar to what was the economic community that was the beginning of the current European Union,” the leftist Lopez Obrador said. He emphasized the need to respect national sovereignty and adhere to non-interventionist and pro-development policies.

The leaders gathered at the invitation of Lopez Obrador with a stated aim of weakening the OAS. The summit’s kickoff focused attention on the region’s center-left leaders, including Peru’s new president, Pedro Castillo, Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel and Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.

Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro pulled out from CELAC last year, criticizing it for elevating undemocratic countries. Argentina’s Alberto Fernandez canceled at the last minute due to a sudden cabinet shuffle in his country.

SPARKS FLY

Some fissures emerged among leaders. Uruguay’s center-right President Luis Lacalle said his participation should not be interpreted as an embrace of some of the region’s more authoritarian regimes or a rejection of the OAS.

“We are worried and look gravely at what’s happening in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela,” he said, ticking off what he described as repressive actions including jailing of political opponents.

Cuba’s Diaz-Canel fired back by attacking neo-liberal policies that he said have retarded social progress. He also criticized Lacalle’s leadership, noting the large response from a recent petition drive by his domestic political opposition.

The Uruguayan responded by criticizing Cuba’s communist government, noting it does not tolerate opposition or allow its people to elect their own leaders.

Bolivian President Luis Arce called for a global agreement to forgive debts for poor countries while Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez called for a regional body to combat climate change.

A new CELAC fund to respond to natural disasters was also announced.

Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez helped set up CELAC in 2011, and his embattled successor Maduro arrived in the Mexican capital late on Friday as a surprise addition. read more .

In remarks Friday night, Maduro suggested a new CELAC headquarters be established in the Mexican capital. Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard politely sidestepped that proposal on Saturday when asked by reporters, describing the idea as premature.

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CIUDAD ACUÑA, Mexico, Sept 19 (Reuters) – A U.S. law enforcement officer on horseback wielded what appeared to be a lariat, whipping it close to the face of a man wading in the Rio Grande carrying a plastic bag of food.

It was just one desperate moment in a few hours of such scenes along the Rio Grande on Sunday.

Hundreds of Haitian migrants who have been camping under a bridge in the Texas town of Del Rio were trying to bring food and other supplies from Ciudad Acuña in the Mexican state of Coahuila, while U.S. officials have stepped up security at the border and started flying migrants out of the area, some to Haiti.

Migrants said their squalid encampment under a bridge on the U.S. side of the river was short of supplies. U.S. officials over the last few days had let migrants cross back and forth at a shallow point of the river. On Sunday, however, they told migrants they would not be able to return to the U.S. side if they ventured into Mexico.

“We’re trapped,” said Joncito Jean, 37, who had spent three days sleeping on a sheet on the ground with his wife and children, ages 3 and 4. He said he regretted the decision to come.

“There are no humane conditions… We have to break out to buy water.”

More than 12,000 migrants, identified by officials on both sides as mostly Haitian, have been gathering under the bridge in recent days, awaiting immigration processing. Instead, U.S. officials began removing several thousand people from the camp over the weekend, including some who were later seen arriving in Haiti.

Still, several people who spoke to Reuters, most of whom traveled with their children, said they would take their chances to try to stay in the United States.

Mackenley Pearre, 25, left impoverished Haiti in July with his cousin, wife and 2-year-old daughter due to the worsening violence and inability to find work as an electrician. In July, Haiti’s president was assassinated, and in August a major earthquake and powerful storm hit the country.

“You have to do something to not die of hunger,” he said, eating a tamale given to him by a local resident on the Mexican side, one of several people who said they felt moved to help.

At a news conference in Del Rio Sunday, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said resources were available.

“We are providing food, water, portable toilets, towels, emergency medical technicians are available for first aid,” Ortiz said.

“Over the next 6 to 7 days our goal is to process the 12,662 migrants that we have underneath that bridge as quickly as we possibly can,” Ortiz said. “What we want to make sure is that we deter the migrants from coming into the region so we can manage the folks that are under the bridge at this point.”

At the border, migrants waded deeper to try to evade law enforcement. Mostly men, many barefoot and in boxers, attempted trickier crossings through waist-deep water. Some migrants crossed at another point where water reached their necks.

Reuters journalists saw mounted officers wearing cowboy hats and vests emblazoned with “POLICE U.S. BORDER PATROL” blocking the path of migrants scrambling up the U.S. embankment carrying plastic bags and cardboard boxes.

After one of the officers in the vests unfurled a cord resembling a lariat like a whip and steered his horse to block the migrants, one tumbled back into the water. He got up and tried again, but the officer swung the cord again near his face.

In another incident, the same officer grabbed the back of the shirt of a migrant trying to run up the bank with bags of food.

Both people appeared to eventually slip past while the officers tried to hold back migrants who were scattering in all directions. A group of some two dozen people were later seen seated on the U.S. side of the river’s edge behind yellow tape near several patrol cars.

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• The head of the United Nations is warning of a potential new Cold War if the United States and China don’t repair their “completely dysfunctional” relationship.
• The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland in a massive show of force.
• In parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, people are dying from hunger.
• And pressure is building on world leaders to increase their efforts to fight global warming, an issue coming to a boil this week at the United Nations.
• Multiple fatalities result from shooting at university in Russia
• Canada votes in a pandemic election that could cost Trudeau
• China limits the amount of time kids can spend playing online games

AP Interview: UN chief warns China, US to avoid new Cold War

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Warning of a potential new Cold War, the head of the United Nations implored China and the United States to repair their “completely dysfunctional” relationship before problems between the two large and deeply influential…Read More

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US launches mass expulsion of Haitian migrants from Texas

DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland and blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico in a massive show of force that signals the beginning of what could be one of Amer…Read More

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‘I just cry’: Dying of hunger in Ethiopia’s blockaded Tigray

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, people now eat only green leaves for days. At a health center last week, a mother and her newborn weighing just 1.7 pounds died from hunger. …Read More

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UN to world leaders: To curtail warming, you must do more

Pressure keeps building on increasingly anxious world leaders to ratchet up efforts to fight climate change. There’s more of it coming this week in one of the highest-profile forums of all — the United Nations. …Read More

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Emmy Moments: Not the Pandemmys — but hardly normal, either

OK, it definitely wasn’t the Pandemmys, or the Zoomemmys, or whatever you want to call last year’s virtual Emmy ceremony — with everyone at home, and visitors in hazmat suits showing up to bestow awards. …Read More

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The first WHO/ILO global estimates on disease and injury in the workplace outline the level of preventable premature deaths due to exposure to work-related health risks.

Press release | 17 September 2021

GENEVA (ILO News) – Work-related diseases and injuries were responsible for the deaths of 1.9 million people in 2016, according to the first joint estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO).

According to the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury, 2000-2016: Global Monitoring Report , the majority of work-related deaths were due to respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Non-communicable diseases accounted for 81 per cent of the deaths. The greatest causes of deaths were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (450,000 deaths); stroke (400,000 deaths) and ischaemic heart disease (350,000 deaths). Occupational injuries caused 19 per cent of deaths (360,000 deaths).

The study considers 19 occupational risk factors, including exposure to long working hours and workplace exposure to air pollution, asthmagens, carcinogens, ergonomic risk factors, and noise. The key risk was exposure to long working hours – linked to approximately 750,000 deaths. Workplace exposure to air pollution (particulate matter, gases and fumes) was responsible for 450,000 deaths.

“It’s shocking to see so many people literally being killed by their jobs,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Our report is a wake-up call to countries and businesses to improve and protect the health and safety of workers by honouring their commitments to provide universal coverage of occupational health and safety services.”

Work-related diseases and injuries strain health systems, reduce productivity and can have a catastrophic impact on household incomes, the report warns.

Globally, work-related deaths per population fell by 14 per cent between 2000 and 2016. This may reflect improvements in workplace health and safety, the report says. However, deaths from heart disease and stroke associated with exposure to long working hours rose by 41 and 19 per cent respectively. This reflects an increasing trend in this relatively new and psychosocial occupational risk factor.

This first WHO/ILO joint global monitoring report will enable policy makers to track work-related health loss at country, regional and global levels. This allows for more focused scoping, planning, costing, implementation and evaluation of appropriate interventions to improve workers’ population health and health equity. The report shows that more action is needed to ensure healthier, safer, more resilient and more socially just workplaces, with a central role played by workplace health promotion and occupational health services.

Each risk factor has a unique set of preventive actions, which are outlined in the monitoring report to guide governments, in consultation with employers and workers. For example, the prevention of exposure to long working hours requires agreement on healthy maximum limits on working time. To reduce workplace exposure to air pollution, dust control, ventilation, and personal protective equipment is recommended.

“These estimates provide important information on the work-related burden of disease, and this information can help to shape policies and practices to create healthier and safer workplaces,” said Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General. “Governments, employers and workers can all take actions to reduce exposure to risk factors at the workplace. Risk factors can also be reduced or eliminated through changes in work patterns and systems. As a last resort personal protective equipment can also help to protect workers whose jobs mean they cannot avoid exposure.”

“These almost 2 million premature deaths are preventable. Action needs to be taken based on the research available to target the evolving nature of work-related health threats,” said Dr. Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at WHO. “Ensuring health and safety among workers is a shared responsibility of the health and labour sector, as is leaving no workers behind in this regard. In the spirit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, health and labour must work together, hand in hand, to ensure that this large disease burden is eliminated.”

“International labour standards and WHO/ILO tools and guidelines give a solid basis to implement strong, effective and sustainable occupational safety and health systems at different levels. Following them should help to significantly reduce these deaths and disabilities,” said Vera Paquete-Perdigao, Director of the Governance and Tripartism Department at ILO.

A disproportionately large number of work-related deaths occur in workers in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific, and males and people aged over 54 years.

The report notes that total work-related burden of disease is likely substantially larger, as health loss from several other occupational risk factors must still be quantified in the future. Moreover, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will add another dimension to this burden to be captured in future estimates.

These estimates are published ahead of the XXII World Congress on Safety and Health , which meets virtually 20 – 23 September, 2021.

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By Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

BBC= Netflix’s royal drama The Crown and Apple TV comedy Ted Lasso were the big winners at Sunday’s Emmy Awards.

The Crown’s prizes included best drama series and four acting wins – for Gillian Anderson, Olivia Colman, Josh O’Connor and Tobias Menzies.

“What a lovely end to the most extraordinary journey with this lovely family,” Colman said of her final series playing Queen Elizabeth II.

“I loved every second of it and I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Becoming emotional, she added: “I wish my dad was here to see this. I lost my daddy during Covid, and he would’ve loved all of this.”

The Crown’s victory in the best drama series category is not the first time a streaming service has won the top prize at the Emmys, but it does mark the first victory for Netflix.

Anderson won for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, Menzies for the Duke of Edinburgh, and O’Connor for Prince Charles.

Many of this year’s nominated actors from The Crown left the show after its most recent series, including Emerald Fennell, who played the Duchess of Cornwall, and Colman, who will be replaced as the Queen in the forthcoming fifth season by Imelda Staunton.

• In pictures: The Emmy Awards red carpet
• Emmy Awards 2021: The winners and nominees
• What’s the big deal about Ted Lasso?

The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards took place in Los Angeles on Sunday and saw most nominees attend in person, although many British nominees appeared from a separate hub in London.

UK winners included Michaela Coel, who won outstanding writing for a limited series for her consent drama I May Destroy You. “I dedicate this story to every single survivor of sexual assault,” she said as she collected her award.

image source, Reuters

Coel also used her speech to address aspiring writers, telling them: “Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that isn’t comfortable, I dare you.”

She said staying away from social media could help them to create their best work. “Do not be afraid to disappear, from it, from us, for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence,” she said.

#EmmysSoWhite

The British writer and actress was one of the few non-white stars to score a win at the awards, which was criticised online for its lack of diversity.

While many black actors were nominated, when it came to the ceremony itself, white performers took home all 12 acting awards across the comedy, drama and limited series categories.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

In contrast, three black stars were among the four winning guest actors at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, a prelude to this Sunday’s main event – namely Saturday Night Live hosts Dave Chappelle and Maya Rudolph, and Lovecraft Country’s Courtney B Vance.

The host of RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul Charles, however, did manage to become the most-awarded black artist in Emmy history on Sunday, bagging his 11th award for the outstanding competition programme.

If MJ Rodriguez from drag ball drama Pose had beaten Colman to the lead actress award, she would have become the first transgender performer to win in a lead acting category.

Kate Winslet and Ewan McGregor were named best limited series actress and actor for Mare of Easttown and Halston respectively.

Winslet said: “I want to acknowledge my fellow nominees in this decade that has to be about women having each other’s backs. I support you, I salute you, I am proud of all of you.

The HBO crime drama saw the actress play a police detective who is investigating the murder of a girl in a working-class community in Pennsylvania.

“Mare of Easttown was this cultural moment, and it brought people together and gave people something to talk about other than a pandemic, and I want to thank everybody for watching our show,” Winslet said.

Paying tribute to writer and creator Brad Ingelsby, she added: “You created a middle-aged, imperfect, flawed mother, and you made us all feel validated.”

Her Mare of Easttown co-stars Evan Peters and Julianne Nicholson also both won supporting actor and actress for their performances in the show.

Jason Sudeikis was named best lead comedy actor for his performance in Ted Lasso, while his British co-stars Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein won best supporting actress and actor.

“This show is about family, it’s about mentors and teachers, it’s about team-mates,” Sudeikis said. “And I wouldn’t be here without those three things in my life.”

His co-star Waddingham, a successful theatre actress, called for more stage stars to be given TV roles during her acceptance speech.

“West End musical performers need to be on screen more,” she told the audience. “Please give us a chance because we won’t let you down.”

She paid tribute to co-star and fellow nominee Juno Temple, saying she wished she could share the prize with her.

Goldstein won outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of cantankerous club captain Roy Kent. The 41-year-old said starring in the show had been “one of the greatest honours” of his life.

Ted Lasso, which first aired on Apple TV last year, tells the story of a US football coach who moves to the UK to coach a fictional Premiership team.

Emmy Awards 2021: The biggest winners

Jean Smart was named best lead actress in a comedy series for her performance in Hacks.

As well as taking the top drama prize of the night, The Crown’s Peter Morgan and Jessica Hobbs also won for writing and directing respectively.

Collecting the writing prize, Morgan said: “I’m very proud, I’m very grateful, we’re going to party. Goodnight.”

Hobbs thanked other female directors and her mother, who she said is still directing at the age of 77. Menzies was not present to collect his award.

The final award of the night, outstanding limited or anthology series, went to Netflix’s chess drama The Queen’s Gambit.

In a highly competitive category, it won ahead of I May Destroy You, Mare Of Easttown, The Underground Railroad and WandaVision.

Netflix’s combined total of 44 wins this year meant it towered above its nearest competitor – HBO and its HBO Max streaming service with 19.

That makes this year the first time Netflix had won more Emmys than HBO, which has dominated the ceremony for years. Disney+ was third on 14, while Apple TV won 10.

This year’s In Memoriam section included tributes to stars including Larry King, Michael Apted, Alex Trebek, Helen McCrory, Jessica Walter, Cicely Tyson and Michael K Williams.

The ceremony, hosted by US comedian Cedric the Entertainer, was held after a year of increased TV viewing prompted by lockdown restrictions around the world.

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A volcanic eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma caused local authorities to evacuate thousands, but no injuries were reported, according to The New York Times.

The island, one of Spain’s Canary Islands located off the coast of Africa, has about 85,000 residents. It was the island’s first volcanic eruption in in 50 years.

Authorities planned to evacuate 5,000 to 10,000 people living in villages on the edge of La Cumbre Vieja national park because ash and lava from the eruption posed a threat to their safety.

Videos posted to social media showed homes surrounded by lava, and plumes of thick smoke billowing into the sky.

 

house reached by the lava of the volcano of La Palma in the Canary Islands @lapalma #lapalma pic.twitter.com/e1qihc69T0

— @ezequieleg968 (@ezequieleg968) September 19, 2021

 

 

Report of volcano erupting in Canary Islands: https://t.co/1ocxlUevw3

— Matthew Bennett (@matthewbennett) September 19, 20   The island was on alert prior to the eruption, as several earthquakes had occurred in the area in the days prior, with the largest registering as a 4.2 on the Richter Scale, according to CNN.

Island residents who would need assistance with evacuating, including those with disabilities, were preemptively moved from the area prior to the eruption. Hiking trails surrounding the volcano had also been closed as a precaution.

“We call on people to exercise extreme caution and to stay away from the eruption area in order to avoid unnecessary risks,” the local government tweeted on Sunday, noted CNN. “Likewise, it is very important to keep roads clear so that they can be used by our land operatives.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reportedly postponed his trip to New York for the United Nations general assembly meeting, instead opting to visit La Palma in the wake of the eruption.

“I am at the moment heading to the Canary Islands because of the seismic evolution, to see first-hand the situation in La Palma, the coordination of the means and the protocols that have been activated,” Sánchez tweeted Sunday.

 

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CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico, Sept 18 (Reuters) – U.S. authorities moved some 2,000 people to other immigration processing stations on Friday from a Texas border town that has been overwhelmed by an influx of Haitian and other migrants, the Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday.

Such transfers will continue “in order to ensure that irregular migrants are swiftly taken into custody, processed, and removed from the United States consistent with our laws and policy,” DHS said in a statement.

While some migrants seeking jobs and safety have been making their way to the United States for weeks or months, it is only in recent days that the number converging on Del Rio, Texas, has drawn widespread attention, posing a humanitarian and political challenge for the Biden administration.

DHS said that in response to the migrants sheltering in increasingly poor conditions under the Del Rio International Bridge that connects the Texas city with Ciudad Acuna in Mexico, it was accelerating flights to Haiti and other destinations within the next 72 hours.

DHS added it was working with nations where the migrants began their journeys – for many of the Haitians, countries such as Brazil and Chile – to accept returned migrants. Officials on both sides of the border said most of the migrants were Haitians.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry expressed solidarity with the mass of migrants at the border in a series of posts on social media late on Saturday, saying “arrangements have already been made” to warmly receive those who return to the Caribbean nation.

“I share their suffering and say to them welcome home,” he wrote.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection was sending 400 additional agents to the Del Rio sector in the coming days, DHS said, after the border agency said on Friday that due to the influx it was temporarily closing Del Rio’s port of entry and re-routing traffic to Eagle Pass, 57 miles (92 km) east.

“We have reiterated that our borders are not open, and people should not make the dangerous journey,” a DHS spokesperson told Reuters.

Del Rio’s mayor, Bruno Lozano, said in a video on Saturday night that there were now just over 14,000 migrants under the bridge.

(GRAPHIC: Border Apprehensions: https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-IMMIGRATION/BORDER/xklpyoalapg/)

As it became clear U.S. authorities were sending migrants back to their homelands, Mexican police officers began asking migrants who were buying food in Ciudad Acuna to return to the American side of the river on Saturday morning, according to Reuters witnesses. The migrants argued they needed supplies, and police eventually relented.

POOR CONDITIONS

1/9

On the Texas side, Haitians have been joined by Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans under the Del Rio bridge, where migrants say conditions are deteriorating.

“There is urine, feces and we are sleeping next to garbage,” said Venezuelan migrant Michael Vargas, 30, who has been at the camp with his wife and two children for three days.

Vargas said they had been given ticket number 16,000 and authorities were currently processing number 9,800. He said people were being separated into three groups: single men, single women and families.

Jeff Jeune, a 27-year-old Haitian, was among several migrants who said it was taking longer to process families than single adults, leaving young children sleeping on the ground in clobbering 99 degree Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) heat. Jeune said his two sons, ages 1 and 10, had fallen ill with fever and cold-like symptoms.

In two photos sent to Reuters by a migrant at the camp, dozens of adults and children are shown squeezed together under the bridge, some sitting on cardboard or thin blankets spread on the packed dirt. Belongings were stacked in neat piles. There appear to be tents made of reeds and wooden sticks in the background.

Typically, migrants who arrive at the border and turn themselves in to officials can claim asylum if they fear being returned to their home country, triggering a long court process. The Trump administration whittled away at protections, arguing many asylum claims were false.

A sweeping U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health order known as Title 42, issued under the Trump administration at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, allows most migrants to be quickly expelled without a chance of claiming asylum. President Joe Biden has kept that rule in place though he exempted unaccompanied minors and his administration has not been expelling most families.

A judge ruled Thursday the policy could not be applied to families, but the ruling does not go into effect for two weeks and the Biden administration is appealing it in court.

A mass expulsion of Haitians at Del Rio is sure to anger immigration advocates who say such returns are inhumane considering the conditions in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. In July, Haiti’s president was assassinated, and in August a major earthquake and powerful storm hit the country.

The Biden administration extended temporary deportation relief to around 150,000 Haitians in the United States earlier this year. That relief does not apply to new arrivals. Deportation and expulsion differ technically – expulsion is much quicker.

U.S. officials briefly halted removals to Haiti following an Aug. 14 earthquake.

The number of Haitian migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border has been steadily rising this year along with an overall increase in migrants, according to CBP data.

Many of the Haitians interviewed by Reuters said they used to live in South America and were headed north now because they could not attain legal status or struggled to secure decent jobs. Several told Reuters they followed routes shared on WhatsApp to reach Del Rio.

More than a dozen Haitians in southern Mexico’s Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, told Reuters on Friday that messages in WhatsApp groups spread lies about the ease of crossing the border.

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