An unquantified group of migrants is available in the next hours by caravan to the US border from San Pedro Sula, the Honduran border city with Guatemala from which other similar initiatives have already exited in the past.
Also as on previous occasions, this caravan (which advances in groups to protect itself from cartels and criminals) plans to start its journey from the metropolitan bus terminal.
His call, extended through social networks, has been criticized by activists: “ We have endless problems , but we believe that by migrating we are only being prisoners of an organized group that leads us to take a path that is not viable for any Honduran ”, Says Hugo Maldonado, president of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras.
"Experience shows that, of every 100 people who leave, between 60% and 70% are returning to the country," says Nelson García Lobo, director of the Mennonite Social Action Commission.
" I strongly advise you to try to refrain, " he added, "because there are many dangers along the way, there is robbery, rape ..."
In January 2019, there was a dramatic increase in the number of asylum seekers intercepted at the border, which reached 132,000 in May, mostly Central American families. Following the launch of special measures by the Government of Donald Trump, the figure dropped to 33,000 in December.
Trump reached an agreement in June with the Mexican government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to promote the Stay in Mexico program, which has returned to that country more than 56,000 asylum seekers, forced to wait there for weeks, months or years to Know if they are allowed to enter the United States.
The House of Representatives announced today precisely an investigation into this program.
In addition, Trump has closed safe country agreements with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador , to return asylum seekers to these countries, regardless of their nationality. In addition, migrants are automatically rejected if, on their trip to the border, they do not request asylum before in one of those three countries.
Migrants condemned to wait in Mexico for their asylum application to be resolved sometimes survive in painful conditions, stalked by cartels and other criminal groups . They also pose a challenge for the social services of the border cities to which they are sent by the US authorities.
The government has begun in December to drive these migrants to other cities farther from the border , with flights from Tucson (Arizona) to Guadalajara, six hours away by plane, according to Fox News.
All those affected are Mexicans who had arrived from non-border states, as indicated by sources of the Department of National Security, which indicate that, in this way, it is difficult for them to try to enter the country illegally, and it is facilitated that they return to their cities of origin.
The US government plans to make two such flights every week since the end of January, to return about 250 migrants a week. This measure has been adopted, according to Fox News, at the request of the Mexican Government.