Venezuelans who entered the United States illegally are to be deported to Mexico in the future. The American and Mexican governments agreed on this on Wednesday. Venezuelan migrants are now protesting against this and chaining themselves.
Venezuelan migrants are deported from the US and walk back to Mexico via the Lerdo-Stanton border bridge.
(dpa)
Dozens of Venezuelans have protested at the US-Mexico border against a new deportation rule by US authorities. Several migrants chained themselves in the Mexican city of Matamoros at the border crossing to the US town of Brownsville, local media reported on Friday (local time). Because of the protest, the American authorities closed the border bridge for four hours.
The American government and Mexico agreed on a new procedure for dealing with migrants from the South American crisis state on Wednesday. Venezuelans who entered the United States illegally are to be deported to Mexico in the future. At the same time, Washington wants to allow the legal entry of up to 24,000 Venezuelans under certain conditions.
According to media reports, the first group of Venezuelans was sent back to Mexico under this regulation on Thursday. Nonetheless, around 1,000 Venezuelans banded together on Friday in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, to head north toward the United States.
Oil-rich Venezuela has been in a deep political, economic and humanitarian crisis for years. According to official statistics, more than seven million people have left the South American country because of poverty and violence.