Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Friday that all migrants have been cleared from the encampment in Del Rio, Tex.

       Mayorkas made the announcement at the White House amid widespread criticism of the Biden administration for its handling of the migrants, most of them Haitians, at the U.S.-Mexico border.

       Earlier in the day, President Biden decried their treatment and took responsibility for the handling of the migrants.

       “Less than one week ago, there were approximately 15,000 migrants in Del Rio, Texas, the great majority of whom were Haitian nationals,” Mayorkas told reporters Friday. “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. … As of this morning, there are no longer any migrants in the camp underneath the Del Rio International Bridge.”

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       Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sept. 24 spoke at the White House about a spot in Del Rio, Tex., that had seen an influx of Haitian migrants. (The Washington Post)

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       Mayorkas’s appearance in the White House briefing room capped a week that left the Biden administration struggling to deal with immigrants at the border while answering to Democrats and Republicans about the images of mistreatment of those fleeing.

       The deportations of Black Haitians seeking asylum at the southern border — and the viral images and videos of White Border Patrol agents grabbing and shouting at them — drew sharp rebukes from Black Democrats, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

       “In the midst of meeting these challenges, we — our entire nation — saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are, who we aspire to be, or the integrity and values of our truly heroic personnel in the Department of Homeland Security,” Mayorkas said Friday.

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       He added: “The investigation into what occurred has not yet concluded. We know that those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism.”

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       Mayorkas said that about 2,000 migrants were expelled to Haiti on a total of 17 flights organized by the Department of Homeland Security.

       Another 8,000 migrants “decided to return to Mexico voluntarily,” Mayorkas said. The remaining 5,000 are being processed by the Department of Homeland Security “to determine whether they will be expelled or placed in immigration removal proceedings,” he added.

       Mayorkas pledged to make public the results of the investigation into the actions of the Border Patrol officers and said the proceedings “will be compelled by the facts that are adduced and nothing less.”