Migrant caravan in Mexico: where they come from and other keys to the biggest mobilization of 2023

A caravan of more than 10,000 migrants left Tapachula, in southern Mexico, on Sunday, December 24. Mexicoto take a long journey on foot to the border with U.S. Organizers call the mobilization the “Exodus of Poverty”.

It’s about the largest migrant caravan to form this year. It takes place while a high-level delegation of U.S Visit Mexico negotiate with the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador new measures to control the growing flow of migrants.

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According to Luis Rey García Villagrandirector of Center for Human Dignification (CDH)the caravan could exceed 15,000 people in the following days, as more migrants would join before reaching the Mexico Cityyour first objective.

The caravan organizers protest against the slowness of immigration regulation processes in the border city of Tapachula and the lack of decent living and working options, according to Univisión.

These are the keys to greater migrant caravan of the year:

Migrants walk in a caravan this Tuesday to reach the northern border of Mexico. (EFE/Juan Manuel Blanco).

O migrant caravanmostly children, women and complete families, will arrive this Wednesday in the municipality of Escuintlain the state of Chiapas.

According to Garcia Villagranthe group is made up of people of 24 nationalitieswhere they predominate Central Americans, Venezuelans and Cubans.

As the AP agency notes, Mexico designated more than 32,000 elements of the armed forces and the National guard for immigration enforcement, and the National Guard now detains far more migrants than criminals.

But when there are huge caravans like now, Mexico Allow them to progress, trusting that they will get tired of walking the path and it will eventually dissolve. So far, no caravan has traveled the 1,600 kilometers to the US border, the AP said.

Benigno Sánchez, a Cuban migrant, told CNN: “We are afraid to speak out… We have economic needs. We have a dream, to work honestly. What can I tell you? Unfortunately, we live in a corrupt government.”

The journey of a migrant from Venezuela to the United States. (AFP).

Garcia Villagran He said that since September The National Migration Institute (INM) of Mexico “closed the doors” to granting authorizations to travel through Mexico to foreigners who remain Tapachulagateway for thousands of migrants.

“Maybe it was an order that the United States gave them, we don’t know, but there is a blockage and a human knot that is reflected in this group of people that we lead today,” the activist told EFE at the beginning of the march in the center of Tapachula.

Previously, documents provided by Mexican authorities allowed migrants to move throughout the country.

Migrants walk in a caravan towards the border with the United States. (EFE/Juan Manuel Blanco).

A delegation of senior officials from the U.S, headed by the Secretary of State Anthony Blinkenwill meet with the president on Wednesday Andrés Manuel López Obradorin what many see as an attempt by the Mexican government to do more to stem the surge in migrants.

López Obrador He stated that he is willing to help, but also guaranteed that he wants to see progress in United States relations with Cuba and Venezuela – two of the countries that send the most migrants – as well as more aid for the development of the region, indicated the agency.AP.

The president of Mexico announced that “basically” it will be a matter of taking measures to reinforce the detention of migrants in the south of the country.

U.S It has difficulty processing the thousands of migrants at the border or providing them with shelter when they arrive in cities in the north of the country.

Migrants on the border between Mexico and the United States. (AFP).

At the meeting, Blink will insist on compliance Los Angeles Declarationin which around twenty Latin American countries, including Mexicocommitted to giving migrants legal means of stay so that not all of them would go to the United States, according to EFE.

The meeting was agreed between the two leaders last Thursday, when Biden called López Obrador concerned about the magnitude of the migration crisis.

Last week, the United States briefly closed two key rail border crossings in Texas under the argument that Border Patrol agents had to be reassigned to deal with the high number of immigration crossings.

Another border crossing remains closed in lukeville, Arizonaand operations were partially suspended in San Diego and Nogales, Arizona. U.S. officials said these closures were carried out to redeploy agents to assist with processing migrants.

Before arriving in Mexico, Blink left open the possibility of reopening these passages in the event of Mexico provide more help.

“Secretary Blink “It will discuss unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways in which Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges, including actions that allow the reopening of important ports of entry along our common border,” said its office in a statement. issued before Wednesday’s meeting.

An improvised migrant camp in the Tlahuac area of ​​Mexico City. (Photo by ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP). (ALFREDO STAR/)

At the time, More than 11,000 migrants are in shelters and camps on the Mexican side of the borderMany of them hope to enter the United States through legal channels established by the president’s administration. Joe BidenCNN reported.

In TijuanaIn Mexico, about 3,800 migrants from countries including Mexico, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela are staying in shelters, according to Enrique Lucero, the state’s director of immigration affairs.

Lucero told CNN that there are cases where migrants lose patience and decide to enter the United States illegally instead of waiting for their appointment through the CBP Onean app that offers a way to request asylum in the United States while at the Mexican border.

Asylum applications in the United States. (AFP).

In ReynosaIn Mexico, another 3,273 migrants are waiting at the Senda De Vida shelters, according to Héctor Silva, the pastor who runs the facilities, according to CNN.

In MatamorosAround 4,000 immigrants live in camps, shelters and abandoned houses.

Source: Elcomercio