A surge of migrants — many of them Haitian — had converged on the temporary site at the Del Rio bridge
A CNN team captured images under the bridge of the final two buses as they departed for US Customs and Border Protection processing centers.
Chaotic scenes at the bridge, including law enforcement on horseback using aggressive tactics against migrants, had sparked anger from both local and federal officials.
Earlier Friday morning, Bruno Lozano, the mayor of Del Rio, Texas, had told CNN just 144 migrants remained, waiting to be processed by US immigration authorities.
US Customs and Border Protection facilities along the US-Mexico border are at capacity or over capacity as officials try to process migrants moved from Del Rio in addition to the usual flow, a Department of Homeland Security official told CNN.
Some of those processed at these facilities will be released on a case-by-case basis — for example, based on a determination of vulnerability — while the majority is likely to be expelled, the official said.
Homeland Security has been moving migrants to other processing facilities along the US southern border to empty the camp under the Del Rio International Bridge. According to DHS, more than 3,900 Haitians have been moved from the Del Rio camp to CBP custody or other sectors of the border to be processed.
CNN has reached out to CBP for comment.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Thursday that a “very small percentage of the total that assembled in Del Rio, Texas” have been released in the United States while officials continue removal proceedings.
“It’s a minority of the individuals,” Mayorkas said, adding: “They are placed in immigration enforcement proceedings where they appear before a judge and if they in fact, make a valid claim to remain in the United States, then of course we honor that. And if not, they are removed as well.”
DHS officials have declined to provide a number of how many migrants have been released.
