Two new caravans made up of some 4,300 migrants from different countries left this Monday in search of transit documents, from the Mexican city of Tapachula, Chiapas state, bordering Guatemala.
Both caravans began their journey from the immigration regularization offices of the National Migration Institute (INM) of Mexico and, according to their members, they began the journey because they have waited two weeks for temporary permits to travel through Mexican territory and they have not yet been delivered. .
The majority group,
made up of about 600 children, 1,200 women and about 2,000 men
, left at noon, at which time they were joined by another 400 migrants, who took the highway that practically runs alongside the Chiapas coast.
The members of the new caravan that circulates through the south of Mexico receive transit visas
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The first caravan, made up of about 100 people, left during the early hours of Monday.
Both aim to reach the municipality of Huixtla, some 40 kilometers away, where they hope that the migration authorities will grant them temporary permits to leave the state of Chiapas.
[Migrants from the caravan begin to arrive at the border after another increase in crossings for the fourth consecutive month in May]
Migrants from the caravan begin to arrive at the border after another increase in crossings for the fourth consecutive month in May
In this sixteenth caravan there are people from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Central American countries, who in this way seek to attract the attention of the INM authorities.
The spokeswoman for the contingent, Alexa, of Venezuelan origin, indicated that their only objective is to obtain permission to travel to the northern border of Mexico and then cross into the United States.
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The migrants move under the 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) temperatures caused by the burning pavement.
Before leaving, the migrants made a call for non-governmental and human rights organizations to help and support them with water and food for the 600 children and 1,200 women who have decided to walk for their documents.
Migrants protested to request that they be granted immigration documents in the municipality of Tapachula, Chiapas, on July 20, 2022. Juan Manuel Blanco / EFE
"They are not serving us"
"We just want to get to Huixtla peacefully, we don't want problems, it rained too much on Sunday and we have many sick children and that is already intolerable," said the migrant.
According to the migrants, the INM authorities asked them to comply with the complete protocol of the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) so that they can be attended, give them access to the offices and thus begin their migration process.
["I'm alone in the country": these migrants released at the border end up living on the streets, homeless and without money]
Joel Ordaz, from Venezuela, told the Efe agency that they decided to leave in an organized manner "because there are many people in the immigration regularization offices and they are not attending to us."
At a slow pace, the caravan reached the first immigration checkpoint located in the community of Viva México, about 8 kilometers from Tapachula.
In that city, the immigration regularization offices barely have 20 service windows to assist thousands of migrants, while in Huixtla there are 10, so with the arrival of foreigners it is certain that there will be an increase in people in the Huixtla Border Traffic Attention Center.
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The region is experiencing a record migratory flow to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
has intercepted more than 1.6 million people
so far in fiscal year 2022, which began last October.
In addition, Mexico received a record of more than 58,000 refugee applications in the first half of 2022, an annual increase of almost 15%, according to Comar.
The caravan reflects the increase in the movement of people to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office
detected more than 1.7 million undocumented immigrants on the border with Mexico
in fiscal year 2021, which ended on December 30. last september.
The Mexican government reported
an 89% year-on-year increase in the number of migrants
presented or channeled by the immigration authority in the first quarter of 2022, adding 77,626 from January to March.
With information from EFE and the National Migration Institute
