The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has defended that the containment that the Government carries out of migrants who cross Mexico to the United States, is to “protect” them from organized crime.
The president's words collide with the images and scenes that hundreds of people from Central America are living these days in Chiapas, in the south of the country.
Beaten and mistreated by the National Guard and personnel of the National Migration Institute (INM).
“We have to take care of the migrants even though it is paradoxical. If we allow them to travel to the north of our country to cross the border, we are running risks, "said López Obrador in the morning conference on Tuesday. Since the administration of Donald Trump, Mexico has become the waiting room for asylum seekers in the United States. Thousands of Central American citizens and of other nationalities must wait in Mexican territory for a response from the US courts. The hope in search of a better life for them and their families collides with the bureaucratic strategy
Remain in Mexico
(Stay in Mexico) that has caused a bottleneck in the applications.
The arrests of migrants have been one of the issues on the negotiating table between Mexico and the White House.
As of July alone, 117,052 migrants have been detained in Mexican territory and as of June, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar) has received more than 51,654 asylum requests, of which 35,669 were processed in Tapachula, the city closest to the border with Guatemala.
More information
Migrants rebel in Tapachula
The president has insisted when asked by the press that the retention of migrants has to do with protecting people from organized crime.
"We do not want and do not wish a misfortune, then, in the south there is no organized crime that unfortunately exists in the north, although we have also just rescued migrants in Tenosique (Tabasco) who had been kidnapped," he said this Tuesday.
“Historically, it has only been carried out to limit, to contain the migratory flow.
We do it, and that is very important, hopefully it is understood, we do it not only because the border cannot be opened and everyone can pass freely, because it would violate our laws, ”the president stressed.
This Thursday representatives of both countries will meet in Washington to address the migration crisis in Mexico.
A pressure cooker of despair and long bureaucracy that has burst at the seams.
"We have to take care of migrants," the president insisted.
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