Caravan of migrants in Mexico: where they come from and other keys to the largest mobilization of 2023

A caravan of more than 10,000 migrants left Tapachula, in southern Mexico, on Sunday, December 24. Mexicoto make a long trip on foot to the border with USA. The organizers call the mobilization “Exodus from poverty.”

Is about the largest migrant caravan that has formed this year. It takes place while a high-level delegation of USA visit Mexico to negotiate with the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador new measures to control the growing flow of migrants.

LOOK: Yahya Sinwar, Israel’s most wanted man, speaks for the first time since the start of the war

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 Cityhis first objective.

The organizers of the caravan protest against the slowness of the immigration regulation processes in the border city of Tapachula and the lack of decent life and work options, according to Univision.

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

What nationalities are they?

The 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 has assigned more than 32,000 elements of the armed forces and the National Guard for immigration enforcement, and the National Guard now detains many more migrants than criminals.

But when there are huge caravans like now, Mexico It allows their progress, trusting that they will get tired of walking along the road and it will end up dissolving. So far, no caravan has traveled the 1,600 kilometers to the border with the United States, AP said.

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

The White House evaluates restoring the controversial Title 42,

a policy applied during the covid-19 pandemic by former President Donald Trump that allowed undocumented immigrants to be deported immediately without giving them the opportunity to request asylum.

What are migrants asking for?

Garcia Villagran He said that since September National Migration Institute (INM) of Mexico “closed the doors” to the granting of permits to circulate through Mexico to foreigners who remain in 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.

What do Mexico and the United States say?

A delegation of senior officials from USA, headed by the Secretary of State Anthony Blinkenwill meet with the president on Wednesday Andrés Manuel López Obradorin what many consider as an attempt for the Mexican Government to do more to contain the surge in migrants.

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

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

USA It has difficulty processing the thousands of migrants at the border or providing shelter to them once they arrive in cities in the north of the country.

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

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

242,000 undocumented migrants were detained

in November at the border by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Last week, the United States briefly closed two major border rail 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 those closures were carried out in order to reassign agents to assist in the processing of migrants.

Before arriving in Mexico, Blinken left open the possibility of reopening those crossings in the event that Mexico provide more help.

“The Secretary Blinken “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 shared border,” his office said. in a statement issued before Wednesday’s meeting.

The situation on the Mexico-United States border

At the moment, 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, some 3,800 migrants from countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela are staying in shelters, according to Enrique Lucero, director of immigration affairs for the state.

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

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

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