Refugees in Mexico: the end of the line is Tapachula

In the south of Mexico, in the border town of Tapachula, many migrants are again waiting to be able to move on to the USA. They accuse the authorities of brutally stopping them and suspect a deal with the US.

“We want a solution,” protests a group of migrants, as can be seen in a video that is shared on social networks. The men and women, whole families, live on the streets because they don’t know where to go. In the city of Tapachula with around 350,000 residents on the border with Guatemala, migrants – from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, but also thousands of Haitians on their way north – stranded.

A Haitian woman frantically reported to the online edition of the Mexican daily La Jornada that she was being forced to stay in the place. “I’m dying of hunger. I don’t have a job, I have nothing. I can’t even apply for the right papers here. I’ve got an appointment with the immigration office for December 9th. But before that, my daughter and I will be on the Die road. “

Haitian migrants in particular are discriminated against, as we hear again and again. Last week they demonstrated against the Mexican authorities because they were not processing their asylum applications and some of them were simply deported to Guatemala.

Hunt for “paperless”

Although the authorities are overburdened, migrants without the appropriate papers are not allowed to leave the border town to apply for asylum in another Mexican location. The city has turned into one big camp. The migration authority regularly hunts down those who try to continue on their way without papers. Tapachula has become a prison. There is no work, no accommodation and also not enough medical care – and that in Corona times.

A few days ago, representatives of the Mexican and US governments vowed the good relations between the two neighboring countries and promised financial support for the countries of origin in order to stop migration. But how the concrete situation in Tapachula could be solved is not an issue, criticized Enrique Vidal from the human rights center Fray Matias de Cordova in Tapachula, opposite “La Jornada”. The city is at the limit and not adjusted to the needs of people looking for protection.

Vidal also admits that more people are coming than in previous years. But there is a lack of money and the government’s willingness to create the framework conditions for adequate care for migrants: “The state does not even have the will to analyze the situation. Instead of looking for real solutions, migration policy is being militarized “, he criticizes and speaks of incidents in the past few days in which the military acted brutally and unworthily against the migrants, with families being separated and the rights of children and young people being violated.

Thousands of soldiers are supposed to stop refugees

The Mexican government has stationed 14,000 national guards, soldiers and members of the navy in Chiapas to stop people fleeing poverty, hunger and violence in their countries. And there are more and more refugees. According to official figures, there were 70,400 in 2019, this year more than 120,000 are expected to make their way to the USA. Many of them have already stayed in other countries for a long time and simply did not meet the conditions for asylum in Mexico, is the argument of the authorities.

But the southern border will only be secured “economically”, says the President of the Committee for Human Rights of Nuevo Laredo, Raymundo Ramos, and there are always agreements between the USA and Mexico: “For example, the USA is now sending vaccines to Mexico in return Mexico ensures that the migrants do not continue on their way north. It is a business, never just goodwill. “

Meanwhile, there is another setback for people on the run in the north, right on the border with the USA: The US Supreme Court rejected a motion to suspend former US President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. Asylum seekers must now stay in Mexico again until their procedure is resolved.