“Exodus of the Poor” in Mexico
Thousands of migrants are traveling in a caravan towards the USA
December 25, 2023, 7:50 a.m
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Around 5,000 people form a huge demonstration and want to march in Mexico towards the USA. 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 out on Christmas Eve after a prayer in the town of Tapachula in the state of Chiapas on the border with Guatemala, the Mexican newspaper “Milenio” reported, citing local civil defense.
The migrants came from 24 countries, mainly from countries such as Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Haiti, but there were also 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 target is initially Mexico City, then the northern border.
They accused the Mexican immigration agency INM of inaction in processing their applications in Tapachula. “We are telling the Mexican state that it leaves us no other option than to walk on the coastal road,” García said. According to him, the country’s migration authorities no longer issue transit permits to foreigners who arrive in Tapachula and want to get to the United States. “That may have been an order that the United States 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 Patrol reports 10,000 crossings every day
Mexico is on the migration route of people trying to reach the United States. They are fleeing poverty, violence or political crises in their home countries. For several years now, migrants in the region have been increasingly forming groups or caravans to protect themselves from violence and deportation, but these often break up again after a while. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people, particularly from South and Central America, try to get to the USA via Mexico. The US border police recently reported around 10,000 border crossings every day.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and national security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall will meet Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City on Wednesday for discussions on the issue. Last Friday, López Obrador pledged tougher action against irregular migration.