Hundreds of migrants from a dozen countries called through social networks left the southern Mexican border on foot on Sunday with the intention of reaching the United States, a country immersed in an intense electoral campaign in which Republican Donald Trump has promised mass deportations if he returns to the presidency.
The formation of the new group coincided with the announcement by US President Joe Biden to withdraw from the electoral contest. The migrants were unaware of the news, but many of them expressed that their main concern is to reach the border before the elections, for fear that the border will be closed in the event of an eventual Trump victory.
“It is one of the very critical points because according to the last debate… there is a risk that they will block our permit,” said Salvadoran Miguel Salazar in reference to CBP One, the application promoted by the Biden government to request asylum in the United States and which he considered could be suspended with a victory by the Republican.
Migrants walk along the highway
Migrants walk along the highway that runs through Suchiate, Chiapas state, in southern Mexico, on Sunday, July 21, 2024, as they begin their journey toward the border with the United States.
“Everyone wants to use that legal route,” added the 37-year-old man who left his wife and two children in El Salvador.
Oswaldo Reyna, a 55-year-old Cuban who left the island 45 days ago, crossed the Suchiate River — the natural border between Guatemala and Mexico — on Sunday morning.
Reyna criticized Trump’s comments, who criminalizes criminals and insists that they want to “invade” the United States.
“We are not criminals, we are not thieves,” the Cuban stressed. “We are… good people who left our countries to be able to get ahead because in our countries we are suffering a thousand needs.”
In this case, no activist accompanied the foreigners who hoped that when they reached Tapachula, the main city on the southern border, more people would join them.
The group included several hundred migrants who had been stranded for weeks by the river in an improvised camp waiting to be transferred to other cities in the country by the National Institute of Migration, which usually moves them from that area to process their requests at some immigration office.
The formation of groups or caravans of migrants that move through southern Mexico is common in recent years and usually coincides with moments when the immigration issue is on the regional agenda. Usually, the Mexican authorities let them advance until the group gets tired and they end up dissolving without leaving the south of the country.
Since the start of the US election campaign, migration has been a key issue given the record flow of people arriving in that country in 2023.
But this weekend, Trump has raised the tension by mocking how he got everything he wanted from Mexico when he was president because he threatened to impose tariffs if the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not stop the passage of migrants. He also launched insults that some understood were directed at former foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard.
“I regret the foul language of former President Trump,” said the future president, Claudia Sheinbaum, on her X account. “For me (Ebrard) is one of the best public servants in Mexico and he will be a great secretary of economy of our country, which no one should forget, is free and sovereign.”
The former foreign minister, for his part, indicated on the same network that “when you are insulted in a campaign, as former President Trump has just done, there is always an electoral purpose: to win followers.”
“I will never accept a candidate’s qualification abroad. It does not intimidate me. I will defend the interests of Mexico with all dignity and firmness,” he added.
Source: latimes
