Small babies suffering, starvation and more as conditions worsen for Haitian migrants in Del Rio

Conditions worsen in a camp on the banks of the Rio Grande River where thousands of mainly Haitian migrants gathered in hopes of obtaining asylum in the United States as pressure on President Joe Biden rises to stop denial flights to Haiti.

Images from the Reuters news agency showed people with infants and children temporary protection from riding in Del Rio, Texas, just across the river from Mexico.

Clothes were hung to dry, and garbage was strewn on the floor while parents washed their children with jugs of river water and tried to find shade in the scorching heat. Migrants and asylum seekers said the food was running low, and there were not enough portable toilets.

The situation on the US-Mexico border has drawn widespread condemnation in recent days, especially after images surfaced showing border guards on horseback using whip-like chords to threaten Haitian migrants and refuge seekers striving to cross the river.

At its peak, as many as 14,000 people were stationed under the international bridge in Del Rio, but US authorities have evacuated thousands for immigration processing, and more than 500 Haitians have been deported since Sunday.

Mexico and the US prepared on Wednesday for more Haitian migrants and asylum seekers to flee the camp, and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated deportation flights would continue.

Several Haitians have been released into the US and allowed to pursue their immigration cases, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing two unidentified US officials, interrupting the Biden administration's public statements that thousands in the camp were directly affected.

Other migrants have decided to remain in Ciudad Acuna, on the Mexican side of the border, opposite Del Rio, due to food shortages and other poor conditions in the United States. On Wednesday, about 200 people set up a handful of camping tents and tents as shelter.

US politicians from both major parties have criticized Biden's handling of the situation, and rights groups have called on the president to stop a Trump-era policy used to directly target people seeking asylum at the US border.

Authorities ordered an investigation into US officials who used the whip-like chords, and DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the agents involved were pulled from the front lines.

Expulsion flights to Haiti have also been hailed as "obscene", with lawyers pointing out that the Caribbean nation is struggling with widespread political instability and rising gang violence and is struggling to rebuild after a catastrophic earthquake.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also warned that outbreaks in such a volatile situation could violate international law.