Hundreds of migrants, mostly Haitians, left on foot from the southern border with Guatemala, where they had been living for months in precarious conditions without any response to their asylum requests from the Mexican government.
Overwhelmed by economic hardship, the group of about a thousand migrants, which also included Central and South Americans, departed the previous day from Tapachula, Chiapas, heading towards the central and northern parts of the country.
Less than a month ago, several hundred migrants also left Tapachula in a caravan and, after 12 days traveling within the state of Chiapas, dispersed the group after reaching an agreement with immigration authorities, as has happened with other migrant caravans in recent years.
“The situation for immigrants is difficult in Tapachula. We don’t have jobs, we can’t pay rent, and rent is expensive, and we have to support our families,” said Jerry Gabriel, a 29-year-old Haitian, as he walked along a Chiapas highway on Tuesday with several hundred other migrants, under the custody of officials from the National Guard and the National Migration Institute.
Haitians account for a quarter of the asylum applications submitted to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) in Mexico. According to figures from the government commission, between 2020 and 2024, more than 127,000 Haitians sought international protection from the Mexican government, out of more than 500,000 applications from all nationalities.
Since early 2025, when measures against migrants began to tighten following the arrival of President Donald Trump, the caravans no longer aspire to the American dream but rather to settle in other regions of Mexico in search of better jobs and wages while they await the regularization process.
“The United States is not an option for us. We just want to reach Mexico City, Tijuana, Monterrey, or another place where we can live,” Gabriel commented.
With this new caravan, named ‘David,’ the number of migrant groups that have left the southern border since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October 2024 has reached 18. All have been dispersed between the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca.
In March, Mexican authorities located 229 migrants in a truck crossing the state of Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico.
Source: elfinanciero
