With migrants sent away to Haiti, campsite in Del Rio, T.X. is now empty: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of 5 Things: Thousands of Haitian migrants have been released into the United States, while others were sent back to Haiti. Plus, Germany heads to the polls, the House Budget Committee meets to discuss President Joe Biden's domestic plans, the U.S. dominates the first day at the Ryder Cup and the 74th Tony Awards are set for Sunday night.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson. And this is Five Things You Need to Know. Saturday, the 25th of September, 2021. Today all migrants are gone from the Del Rio, Texas campsite plus Germany chooses a new leader and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
A COVID 19 outbreak has killed five people and infected at least 74 at a nursing home in Washington State. Out of those who died, four were on unvaccinated and one was fully vaccinated.
A roadside bomb hit a Taliban car in Eastern Afghanistan earlier today, injuring at least one person, no one has claimed responsibility, but the Islamic State group said it was behind similar attacks in the City of Jalalabad last week that killed 12 people.
And a manhunt continues for Gabby Petitio's fiance, Brian Laundry. The FBI issued a federal warrant for Laundry this week after Petitio's body was found at a Wyoming campground.
Taylor Wilson:
No migrants are left at the makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas on the Mexico border. That comes just a week after nearly 15,000 migrants had gathered at the site, including mostly Haitians. Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Alejandro Mayorkas:
This was the result of an unprecedented movement of a very large number of people traveling to a single point of the border within a matter of a few days. We responded with a surge of resources to address the humanitarian needs of the individuals, many of whom include families with young children. We also applied our months long standard operating procedures at the border, which we have been applying to all migrants encountered at the border during this very challenging time.
Taylor Wilson:
Some flights will continue to bring migrants back to Haiti this weekend, despite widespread criticism that people are being forced to return to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and a place that some migrants have not lived in more than a decade, at least 2000 Haitians on 17 flights have already been sent back in one instance. People desperately tried reboarding a plane to return to the United States. They've been expelled under a pandemic related policy, and that allows immediate expulsion without the chance to seek asylum. Officials are also under fire for certain tactics used at the border, including using horses to push back families to the Mexican side. The number of migrants in Del Rio peaked last Saturday after thousands confused by Biden Administration policies and social media rumors, gathered at the border crossing. Meanwhile, protests have popped up in Haitians American communities around the country. At a Boston rally, Haitian native and immigrant activists, Gerald Gabo was frustrated with the Biden Administration's handling of the migrant situation
Gerald Gabo:
This border crisis it's very damaging to the Biden Administration because this is not what he said. He stood with immigrant and for immigrant. He stood for dignity. He stood for human decency and what's going on right now is the total opposite of what he stood in the campaign trail. So I don't think that he wants that in his record. So Joe Biden can do a lot of things to fix the crisis that we are in right now. He needs to first stop the deportation. He needs to give due process to all of the people who are at the border seeking asylum, and he also needs to provide humanitarian support to all of them, and also share his policy toward Haiti because the reason why Haiti is in this situation now is because of the failed US policies toward to Haiti.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, at least 2000 Haitians were sent back to the Caribbean nation. Far more have been released into the US, at least 12,000 according to The Department of Homeland Security. Most of them will have to make claims in front of an immigration judge in the next few months and could still eventually be denied and removed. Thousands of other migrants have been relocated around Mexico, where they will apply to stay or eventually may again move north to try and enter the United States. The US State Department also said it's in talks with Chile and Brazil, where many migrants left in recent years to allow some Haitians to return to those countries. Germans head to the polls this weekend to elect their next leader.
Speaker 4:
[foreign language 00:04:43].
Speaker 5:
[foreign language 00:04:47]
Taylor Wilson:
The country is holding a national election tomorrow to determine the makeup of parliament and Chancellor, Angela Merkel is stepping down from her post after 16 years in power. Merkel has been seen abroad as a symbol of stability, and as someone able and eager to cooperate with other political parties than her own Christian Democratic Union Party, but many Germans have criticized what they've seen as a lack of bold reforms at home. Merkel was the first female chancellor of Germany, and often considered one of the most powerful people in Europe, as for who will replace her the race is pretty much wide open. Going into the weekend, polls show Merkel's center right union block a little behind or nearly level with the center left social Democrats with finance minister, Olof Schultz seeking the chancellorship. Pulling in third place are the Greens led by Analina Burbock, making the parties first run for chancellor. Experts say Germany's election is less predictable than usual because the candidates are relative unknowns to most voters.
Taylor Wilson:
The House Budget Committee will meet today to talk through parts of President Joe Biden's domestic priorities. They include universal pre-kindergarten and community college, along with an expansion of Medicare plus the taxes to pay for them, all part of a potential $3.5 trillion spending package. The House Budget Committee will hear from 13 committees and once that panel is done, will decide how the plan will be debated on the house floor. Lawmakers are still trying to get an agreement between the house Senate and White House before a vote. Though two democratic senators, Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema have said they will not support that much spending. Meanwhile, a separate vote on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill may come to a house vote on Monday, though there are still more progressive factions of the Democratic Party who want that tied into the broader spending package. The Senate already overwhelmingly approved the infrastructure bill.
Taylor Wilson:
So if approved by the house, it would go to President Joe Biden this week for a signature. Well, it was a great first day at the Ryder Cup for team USA. The US jumped out to a 6, 2 lead over team Europe at the golf tournament yesterday, their largest day one lead in 46 years. Europe won just one of the eight matches and have two others in the match play event. Europe has also notably benched Northern Irishman, Rory McIlroy, a four time major winner and six time Ryder Cup participant, that comes after he lost two matches on the same day for the first time in his Ryder Cup career. Today's Saturday morning, for some start at 8:05 AM Eastern Time with Brooks Capcom, and Daniel Berger for the US against Spaniards, John Rom and Sergio Garcia for Europe. You can watch on NBC and Golf channel.
Taylor Wilson:
The 74th Tony Awards are tomorrow. The annual show honors the best in theater, but since Broadway was largely shut down for a year and a half until recently, this year is Tony's will celebrate shows from before the pandemic shutdown in March of 2020. The awards were supposed to happen in June of last year, but got called off with no theater to choose from. And despite picking from 2020 theater work, there are still some limited categories because not enough nominators saw some shows before the shutdown. Like for best lead actor in a musical, Aaron Tveit is the only nominee or for best original score, a category usually dominated by musicals has five plays in the running. As for the host, its first six time Tony Award winner, Audra McDonald, the only person to win all four acting categories. She'll host tomorrow night from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Eastern on Paramount Plus, then actor and singer Leslie Odom Jr, best-known from Hamilton takes over as the show shifts to CBS for a special second half after 9:00 o'clock.
Taylor Wilson:
You can follow along with the entertainment section on usatoday.com or live on Twitter at usatodaylife. And you can find new episodes of Five Things every morning, seven days a week right here, wherever you're listening right now. Thanks as always to Shannon Green and Claire Thornton for their great work on the show. And Claire's back with the Sunday edition tomorrow right here on this feed. Five Things is part of the USA Today Network
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Haitian migrants sent from Texas to Haiti, some introduced into U.S.
