‘We need to work’: Hundreds of migrants form new U.S.-bound caravan in Mexico

TAPACHULA, Mexico, Nov. 26 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Central American and Haitian migrants formed a new caravan on Friday in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, near the Guatemala border, and began migrating north towards the United States.

The migrants said they wanted to leave Chiapas because they had not received the humanitarian visas promised by Mexico, nor were they transferred to other parts of the country where they had better living conditions.

About 1,000 migrants, many with children, began migrating early Friday from Tapachula, a town on the border with Guatemala, to Mapastepec, about 100 km away, where they plan to join another group of migrants, caravan organizers said.

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A day earlier, Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) had started moving hundreds of migrants to other parts of the country after waiting months in Tapachula for a response to asylum applications or humanitarian visas.

Migrants were also offered legal temporary residence documents in Mexico that would allow them to look for work and defuse threats to head towards the US border.

Members of the Mexican National Guard ride in a truck while migrants, mostly Haitians, go in a caravan en route to the U.S. border near Tapachula, Mexico, Nov. 26, 2021. REUTERS / Jose Luis Gonzalez

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However, many migrants in Tapachula were not relocated or given humanitarian visas, and they joined those who went to the US.

“We have to work to support our families and that is why we decided to leave the caravan,” said a Haitian migrant, accompanied by his wife and family members, who refused to be identified.

Luis Garcia, one of the organizers of the caravan, said around 1,500 people are expected to head north from Mapastepec on Tuesday. In the past, migrants refused to accept government aid for fear of deportation.

Earlier on Friday, the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) said it had found that at least three Haitian asylum seekers in Mexico had been deported to their country in the past year.

Mexico’s National Migration Institute did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the cases.

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Reporting by José Luis González Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz Writing by Drazen Jorgic Editing by Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/we-need-work-hundreds-migrants-form-new-us-bound-caravan-mexico-2021-11-26/