Thousands of US-bound migrants set to enter Mexico from Guatemala in new influx
Thousands of Central Americans refugees have gathered in Guatemala’s border regions, preparing to cross into Mexico in caravans en route to the US, in a new influx that is viewed as a test of Mexico City’s pledge under a deal with Washington to restrict the movement of illegal migrants.
Guatemalan officials said at least 4,000 migrants had entered the country from Honduras since Wednesday. Some 2,000 of them remained in the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman, planning to set off for Mexico en masse on Monday.
The asylum seekers — some traveling in groups as small as a dozen people while others moving caravans of more than 100 — had said they planned to unite in Tecun Uman before crossing together into Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico.
The latest influx makes one of the biggest of its kind since October 2019, when Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala agreed under a deal with Washington to control the exodus of undocumented migrants in exchange for receiving economic aid from the American government.
Mexico had agreed in June last year to step up immigration enforcement and to take in more migrants waiting for their US asylum hearings under pressure from US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
The Mexican Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday afternoon that the country had already received around 1,100 migrants in the states of Chiapas and Tabasco.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his government was monitoring the situation. He claimed there were 4,000 jobs available on the country’s southern border as well as shelters and medical help for the asylum seekers.
Mexico has so far controlled the border at Tecun Uman, but many later crossed into Mexico via the Suchiate River dividing the two countries.
Guatemala’s new President Alejandro Giammattei had said a top priority of the government would be to review the text of migration agreements made with the United States.
Trump has repeatedly urged regional officials to stop asylum seekers from reaching Mexico’s border with the US.
Political analysts see Trump’s aggrandizement of the immigration issue as a fear-mongering strategy to gain support ahead of 2020 presidential election.
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