A new caravan of more than a thousand migrants left southern Mexico heading north on Saturday night, despite the all-out war against irregular immigration declared by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Some of the foreigners, from Latin American countries, retain the “hope” of entering the United States even after Trump canceled a program that allowed them to obtain asylum as soon as he took office last Monday.
“We have decided to go to the border and get an answer. We still have hope that we are going to enter the United States,” said Aníbal Jose Arvelo, a 37-year-old Venezuelan.
The Republican president canceled the CBP One programthe mobile application that allowed asylum appointments to be scheduled before approaching the border.
Other foreigners chose to leave Tapachula, a city bordering Guatemala in the Mexican state of Chiapas, due to the lack of jobs.
“It’s a tough situation here, there is no work in Tapachula,” said Omar Ávila, a 25-year-old Venezuelan who left his native country following his ex-wife.
The woman undertook the trip to the United States together with her two children, a girl and a boy, and arrived in Chicago with only one of them: the girl died swept away by the current of a river in the Darién jungle, on the border between Colombia and Panama.
Gerardo Yépez, another 37-year-old Venezuelan, thinks try your luck in Mexico City or even see “how to return” to your country.
In just one week in power, Trump ordered several measures against illegal migration, including deportations, the deployment of troops to the southern border and the arrest of 538 people in an irregular situation, according to the White House.
The Republican magnate also resurrected “Stay in Mexico”a program that forces foreigners to wait for the resolution of their immigration processes on the other side of the 3,100 km border line.
Meanwhile, the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum opened the possibility of regularizing foreign migrants or repatriating them if they give their agreement.
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petroannounced this Sunday that it prevented United States military planes carrying deportees from entering the country.
For its part, Brazil will ask the Trump government for explanations about the “degrading treatment” of 88 of its nationals expelled from the United States who were handcuffed during the trip.
