By EFE
Aug 11, 2024, 6:24 PM EDT
Migrants stranded at the borders of Mexico and Guatemala asked the next president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, this Saturday for relief to address irregular migration from South America and Central America, in their attempt to reach the United States despite restrictive measures.
The undocumented immigrants who arrived in the town of Ciudad Hidalgo, in the state of Chiapas, which has become the main city for irregular migration on the country’s southern border, are preparing a migrant caravan that will leave from Tapachula.
The Venezuelan migrant, who is traveling with four children and his wife, asked Sheinbaum to provide shelter or help for all Latin American migrants, because, he said, they are fleeing from violence, dictatorships and the need to improve themselves.
“All countries have welcomed the Mexicans with great enthusiasm and love, so the president must have the support of all the countries of Latin America and Central America because this extortion that is happening today cannot continue,” he said in a brief interview.
The South American expressed his confidence that the next Mexican president and the United States government will listen to his requests for free access so that they can cross peacefully to the other side of the border in the north of the country.
Guatemalan migrant Sergio ‘N’ asked Mexicans that, just as his country opened its doors to people displaced by violence, the North American country should give free passage to people on the move and not have the National Migration Institute persecute them to return them to their countries of origin.
“The only thing we would ask (of Sheinbaum) is security for the children and the people who are migrating to the United States, we are just passing through, we are not thinking of staying, there is no pressure measure, if we can enter legally we will,” he commented.
This migrant has been on the southern border for 10 days and is in transit, seeking to reach Tapachula to continue his journey to the northern border of Mexico.
Venezuelan Alexander Hernandez, who is walking with a group of migrants from different countries from Ciudad Hidalgo to Tapachula, asked the same thing, as well as for the Mexican authorities to provide them with papers for their free transit.
“(We ask the next president) for help for us migrants who are suffering, walking, struggling, thirsty, hungry, (lack of) papers and countless other things, we ask the United States (to) open the doors for us to find employment and for the future of our children,” he added.
Meanwhile, the authorities of the National Migration Institute (INM), accompanied by elements of the National Guard (GN), carry out operations to secure migrants who voluntarily desist from continuing to walk in the caravan.
Irregular migration through Mexico increased by 193% year-on-year in the first half of the year to a total of 712,226 detected by the Government, bringing the total to almost 782,176 irregular migrants in just six months, compared to the record of 2023, when this flow rose by 77% annually.
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