Jacqueline Charles is a reporter at the Miami Herald.

She's also Haitian American.

And she says as migrants from back home started massing at the Texas border last week,

her phone, it just kept pinging.

You know, remember that game of telephone?

You're younger. I got home last night and, you know, remember that game of telephone? You're younger.

I got home last night, and, you know, I'm hearing from people who, you know, like, they know a friend or know somebody who made it to Mexico or made it, you know, there.

Haiti is a country of 11.5 million people, but honestly, it's small.

The town where so many refugees are gathering is known as Del Rio.

There's a bridge there, though a lot of migrants have been crossing to the U.S. by simply

waiting over a dam.

Somewhere, word started to circulate that, hey, that port of entry is open.

And so people converge.

They're going to take their chance because people are desperate.

I think desperation drives people to the point of what do I have to lose.

Jacqueline had spent the summer covering crisis after crisis in Haiti, the assassination of the president, a devastating earthquake.

But she'd been anticipating this migration situation from before all that.

In February, I received a phone call from a Haitian pasture at another Texas town talking about, you know,

receiving thousands of Haitians in his town and how he was overwhelmed.

She made a note.

Call Pastor Jidze when you get back to the U.S.

But before she had a chance to do that, the news hit.

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