U.S. officials say many Haitian migrants camped in a small Texas border town are being released in the United States, undercutting the Biden administration’s public statements that Haitians who enter the country illegally face immediate expulsion.

One official says Haitians have been freed on a “very, very large scale” in recent days, many of them with notices to appear at an immigration office.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. The releases come despite a massive effort to expel Haitians on flights to Haiti under pandemic-related authority that denies migrants an opportunity to seek asylum.