Thousands of migrants caravan towards the USA
Around 5,000 people form a huge demonstration and want to march towards the USA in Mexico. The caravan, under the slogan "Exodus of the poor", accuses the Mexican immigration authorities of inaction.
Several thousand migrants have formed a caravan in southern Mexico to march north towards the USA. Around 5,000 people set off on Christmas Eve after a prayer in the city of Tapachula in the state of Chiapas on the border with Guatemala, as the Mexican newspaper "Milenio" reported, citing the local civil defense.
The migrants came from 24 countries, mainly from countries such as Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Haiti, but also included people from African countries and China, said activist and organizer Luis García Villagrán. At the head of the procession, which has the motto "Exodus of the poor", one participant carried a white cross. According to reports, the group's destination is first Mexico City, then the northern border.
They accused the Mexican immigration authority INM of inactivity in processing their applications in Tapachula. "We tell the Mexican state that it leaves us no other option but to walk on the coastal highway," said García. According to him, the country's migration authorities are no longer issuing transit permits to foreigners who arrive in Tapachula and want to reach the USA. "That may have been an order the US gave them, we don't know," García said. "But there is a plug and a human knot." Tapachula is near the border with Guatemala.
US border police report 10,000 crossings a day
Mexico is on the migration route of people trying to reach the USA. They are fleeing poverty, violence or political crises in their home countries. For some years now, migrants in the region have increasingly formed groups or caravans to protect themselves from violence and deportation, but these often disband after a while. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people, particularly from South and Central America, try to reach the USA via Mexico. The US Border Patrol recently reported around 10,000 border crossings every day.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall will meet Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City on Wednesday to discuss the issue. Last Friday, López Obrador promised to take tougher action against irregular migration.
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The caravan of migrants, primarily from countries like Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, aims to reach the USA and Mexico City, then the northern border. However, they accuse the Mexican immigration authority INM of inactivity in processing their applications in Tapachula.
Despite the daily reported 10,000 border crossings by US border police, Mexico and the USA are set to discuss the migrant issue due to the influx of refugees seeking to escape poverty, violence, or political crises in their home countries.
Source: www.ntv.de
