In southern Mexico, thousands of migrants have made the 3,000-kilometer journey to the USA on foot. They criticize that they have to wait far too long for their US visa applications to be processed.
Several thousand migrants have joined together in a caravan in southern Mexico to walk north towards the USA. The police counted around 5,000 people, mainly from Honduras, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, El Salvador and Guatemala, as local media reported. There are many women with small children among them.
They set off from Tapachula in the state of Chiapas. The city is located not far from the border with Guatemala.
Frustration with US visas
Accompanied by police and ambulance, the migrants were traveling along a coastal road and planned to spend the night in the municipality of Huehuetan, about 25 kilometers north of their starting point.
Irineo Mújica of the organization Pueblo Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders) said people decided to leave Tapachula out of frustration over their inability to obtain U.S. visas. According to media reports, she criticized that it was irresponsible for the Mexican government to want to detain her in Tapachula. Many migrants lived on the streets.
At the front of the procession, participants carried a white cross and a banner demanding humanitarian visas. They complained that it took months to process their applications in Tapachula and that they were not allowed to work.
The migrants are demanding humanitarian visas – they complain that it takes months to process their applications.
US Biden under pressure on migrant issue
The development is likely to be inconvenient for US President Joe Biden. He wants to be confirmed in office next year and is under pressure to reduce the number of illegal immigrants.
Mexico is on the migration route of people trying to reach the United States. They are fleeing poverty, violence and political crises in their home countries. For several years now, migrants in the region have been increasingly banding together to protect themselves from violence and deportation, but these often break up again after a while.