WhatsApp instructions, Mexican struggles: How Haitians ended up in Texas camp

Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. walk in the Rio Grande river near the International Bridge between Mexico and the U.S. as they wait to be processed, in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, September 17, 2021. Migrants cross back and forth into Mexico to buy food and supplies. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

CIUDAD ACUÑA, Mexico (Reuters) - Haitians camped out under a Texas bridge followed instructions circulated on WhatsApp to get there, according to a dozen migrants who said the tips delivered to their phones helped them evade checks by Mexican authorities.

Over 10,000 migrants, most of them Haitians, were as of Friday sleeping on the ground in a squalid camp under the Del Rio International Bridge connecting Ciudad Acuña, Mexico to Del Rio, Texas, hoping to apply for U.S. asylum.