At least 1,000 Cuban, Haitian, African, Venezuelan and Central American migrants protested Tuesday outside the immigration regularization offices in the border city of Tapachula.in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, to request temporary 30-day permits from the National Migration Institute (INM) and with them be able to travel to the northern border.
(You might be interested in: Migration to the US: the keys behind the end of the ‘stay in Mexico’ policy)
This Tuesday, dozens of people covered with umbrellas, cardboard and plastic tarps gathered behind the metal fences that the federal authorities place to divide the various contingents that arrive to carry out their immigration processes.
(It might interest you: Dead migrants in trailer had been sprayed with meat seasoning)
Houler Pérez Coba, a migrant from Cuba, said that every day between 5,000 and 8,000 people gather for the 30-day permit to get out of Tapachula.
“I’ve been waiting (here) since last Wednesday, we are in an unsanitary situation, rainy, sunny, a lot of garbage and there are no conditions to do the business,” said the man.
The migrants asked for their migration processes to be speeded up to avoid outbreaks of diseases such as influenza and dengue.
They also made it known that the slow pace of immigration procedures forces them to leave
in caravan, since they consider that it is “the most agile solution” to obtain the document in other INM facilities.
In the external part of the Tapachula building there is a section of the National Guard (GN) that has been in charge of providing security to the perimeter enclosure of the migratory regularization offices.
Bárbara Romero, a migrant from Venezuela, told Efe that on Monday night they distributed “some permits” for 30 days to continue advancing, but that the authorities did not give them more information.
“We’re going to go out in a caravan, if they don’t attend to us we’ll go out tomorrow or the day after, (…) If we have to walk to get the papers, we’ll do it,” Romero snapped.
According to a National Guard officer, about 250 people entered the building early Tuesday morning.
The rows and camps in Tapachula reflect the record migratory flow to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office detected more
of 1.7 million undocumented immigrants on the border with Mexico in fiscal year 2021, which ended on September 30 last.
In Mexico, a record 58,642 people applied for refuge during the first half of 2022, which means an increase of 14.88% compared to the same period in 2021, according to a recent report by the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar).
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE
More world news:
-China: new city closed due to possible omicron outbreak
-Shooting in Illinois: author would have dressed as a woman to avoid suspicion
-United Kingdom: two ministers resign in protest against Boris Johnson
#Mexico #migrants #demand #permits #travel