‘Give us a chance’
Police and the National Guard in Tapachula put up fences around COMAR offices to prevent large gatherings of migrants, Reuters images show.
“I’ve been sleeping here since January 1, waiting for their help, to shelter me,” said Mauricio Hilario, a 27-year-old Salvadoran migrant camping outside the COMAR building with dozens of others, including young children.
Official figures show nearly 400,000 migrants were detained in Mexico as of November, double the number in 2019.
When US President Joe Biden meets his Mexican and Canadian counterparts for a leaders’ summit next week in Mexico City, migration is expected to feature prominently on the agenda.
Lorena Mena, director of Continente Móvil, a think tank specializing in migration issues, said any extension of Title 42 would increase risky migration because smugglers would encourage deported migrants to cross the border as they are officially banned. Not deported.
“The fact that people cross the border does not take away their rights to seek asylum,” he said, adding that many will try again.
Some migrants, such as Raquel, a 44-year-old Venezuelan selling eggs boiled with salt to pay for a small, shared room in Tapachula, expressed hope that the summit could draw up a plan that would It will be easier to reach the United States. ,
“I want both countries to help us and give us a chance to get in… without having to legally cross into Mexico or put ourselves at risk of getting in,” she said.
