A new migrant caravan has formed in southern Mexico, in the city of Tapachula, Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala, with hundreds of people, mostly from Central America, the Caribbean, and some from South America. The goal, unlike virtually all of these mobilizations, is no longer to reach the northern border with the United States (US), but rather Mexico City (CdMx).
The group, which began with just over 500 migrants and now numbers around 1,500 people, began its journey from Tapachula on Wednesday and arrived in the municipality of Huixtla, also in Chiapas, this Thursday, on its second day of walking.
The migrant caravan seeks to remain in Mexico and has denounced corruption at the country’s two main immigration authorities: the National Migration Institute (INM) and the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR), accusing them of trying to charge them thousands of pesos to issue temporary permits and papers validating their stay in Mexican territory.
The main peculiarity of this migrant caravan is that, since its inception, it has not announced its intention to reach the northern border, as virtually all such mobilizations have done for just under a decade. In the last seven years, especially before the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people in various caravans have been moving from the south with the intention of reaching the US.
But things have changed. Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, with a radical anti-immigrant agenda and a policy of indiscriminate expulsion and repatriation against Latinos in the United States, has sparked fear among migrants who, at one time, sought to reach US territory by any means necessary.
“And why would I want to go to the United States? They hate us there!” Cuban migrant Esther López Hernández told the newspaper El País. “The United States isn’t on my mind,” Vladimir Ortiz, another Cuban, told CNN.
Both of them, like practically the rest of the migrant caravan, have Mexico City on their minds. “We want to regularize our status here,” Ortiz added. “Nothing more than that, so we can work and contribute to this nation.” “I want to make a life here,” López said.
These are precisely the requests of this migrant caravan: the possibility of receiving work and residency permits in Mexico, and being able to rebuild their lives here, since the rise of Trump also truncated the possibilities not only of entering that country, but also of even requesting asylum, even among nations that previously received preference, such as Cubans and Venezuelans.
The route will be difficult for the migrant caravan. Although Tapachula is about 800 kilometers from Mexico City, the routes will take them on foot for at least 1,100 kilometers. They will have to cross the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Puebla before entering the capital, unless they are detained by authorities.
Regarding this case, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo indicated on Monday that monitoring is carried out when migrants gather to reach the United States, although this group is not heading north. “The caravan is monitored, supported in humanitarian terms, and provided with facilities for them to return to their country if they so wish or to have some opportunity in Mexico,” she stated.
This policy, the Mexican president added, has allowed her government to ensure that no migrant caravan has reached the US border since the beginning of her term a year ago. Sometimes, caravans are dissolved if these groups reach an agreement with immigration authorities before reaching their destination.
According to the federal Ministry of the Interior (Segob), in 2018, 1,829 “events of foreigners presented before immigration authorities” occurred in Mexico City. These events are cases in which undocumented migrants were intercepted, detained, or taken to immigration offices.
The most recent statistics show that in 2024 the number rose to 6,713, an increase of 267 percent compared to 2018. However, it was in 2022 that the number skyrocketed, reaching 14,028 “events,” representing an increase of 667 percent compared to 2018.
Migrant routes to the United States are constantly changing. People seek protection from immigration authorities, but also from organized crime. However, the US government’s restrictive immigration policies have also changed the trajectory of thousands of people.
In 2024, the Mexico City government, led by now-President Sheinbaum, opened two shelters for this population. However, the majority of people are served by civil society organizations, which provide temporary shelters and other services.
Source: sinembargo
