More than 14,000 migrants, most of them Haitian, amassed at the border in Del Rio, Texas during the past week in a high-visibility bid for entry into the United States. But officials have moved quickly to expel the vast majority of them using a public health statute that immigration rights groups claim violates U.S. and international law.

By Thursday, the number of migrants at the makeshift camp had decreased to about 5,000. Some of the migrants left the camp to wait in Mexico for another opportunity to cross. A few were allowed to enter the U.S. to pursue asylum claims. Most were sent back to Haiti in a steady flow of deportation flights expected to continue to empty out the camp.

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