Migrants blocked customs in southern Mexico to pressure for transit permits to the US.

About 1,000 migrants, members of the largest caravan that crosses Mexico from the border with Guatemala so far this year, blocked two lanes of the entrance to the Comprehensive Border Transit Assistance Center on Monday in order to put pressure on immigration authorities and obtain papers that allow them to transit to the United States on a regular basis.

The migrants arrived at customs, located in the southern state of Chiapas, after traveling about 10 kilometers from the municipality of Huixtla, where they were awaited by anti-riot teams from the National Guard.

In their peaceful demonstration, foreigners sat down and others lay down on two lanes until traffic was completely closed. From there they launched slogans like “we want papers, we want papers, the united people will never be defeated!”

Irineo Mujica, director of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, held a dialogue with elements of the National Guard. With a group of five people, three women and two men, he entered the local offices of the National Migration Institute, in the border city of Huixtla.

Jordi Alexander Rodríguez, a migrant from Ecuador, emphasized that they have been walking for several days and they have not been given any response to grant them documents.

“We do not want to be here in Mexico, we do not want to suffer from more robberies, kidnappings, deaths and bad things, we are migrants, we have children and family. “We are not doing harm, we are in a peaceful caravan,” she said.

This migrant, from South America, said that they decided to block because they are not served and no one is giving them papers.”

At 27 years old, this foreigner who was dedicated to fishing, fled due to war and violence, but has not been able to regularize his immigration status upon arriving in Mexican territory.

Honduran migrant Edwin Omar explained that they joined together to close communication routes because there are thousands of migrants, including children and women, who require documents to leave Chiapas and advance to their destination.

“We want papers to fulfill our mission and not bother them, so, if we are not attended to, we are not going to move,” he stated.

In Honduras he was a bricklayer, but now he is looking for new opportunities to provide better well-being for his family.

A National Guard officer pointed out what they are doing to avoid any confrontation: “I am not committing to anything, because it is not my responsibility, but rather immigration’s responsibility and to see how to serve them,” he added.

This group of foreigners caused dozens of heavy-duty trucks, public transport and individuals, to become stranded on the southern border of the country, leaving economic losses in the midst of a heavy fall of rain.

Until this Monday afternoon, the migrant commission remained inside the Huixtla customs office waiting to be attended to by immigration authorities and for the answer as to whether they will obtain any benefits to transit regularly.

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