Mexico will reinforce security on its southern border in the face of a possible massive arrival of undocumented migrants trying to cross into the United States, the president announced on Wednesday. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
On the eve of the start of a tour of Central America and Cubathe president referred to the impact that the elimination of a US measure (Title 42) would have, adopted in the framework of the Covid-19 pandemic, which allows the expulsion of almost all illegal migrants.
“We have to protect the southern border to protect, although it may seem contradictory or paradoxical, migrants because it is not convenient to cross the country, it is very risky and we have to take care of them,” López Obrador said at his usual press conference.
The border area with Guatemala is the gateway for hundreds of thousands of migrants, most of them Central Americans, seeking to reach US territory in their flight from violence and poverty.
The White House plans to dismantle Title 42 on May 23, but the decision was demanded by several border states that fear a massive influx of undocumented immigrants. A judge will hear the parties on May 13.
In the last week, more than 1,000 Haitians arrived at the Nuevo Laredo border (Tamaulipas, north).
“We have been told that the process to request asylum and obtain temporary stay is easier in Nuevo Laredo. For this reason, many from my country are traveling here,” Pierre Mercidieu told AFP Wednesday at a city shelter.
The southern and northern borders of Mexico are already guarded by thousands of soldiers.
López Obrador acknowledged that the “most regrettable crimes” against migrants occur in neighboring regions of the United States.
On Tuesday, during a visit to Washington, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard again called for orderly migration and social investment in Central America to prevent the exodus.
“What we are not going to allow is the assumption that Mexico becomes a country where anyone passes by and we don’t have their identity,” warned Ebrard, quoted by the press.
López Obrador will begin his tour this Thursday in Guatemala, after which he will visit El Salvador, Honduras, Belize and Cuba, until next Sunday.
The leftist president addressed the thorny issue of migration with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, last Friday during a telephone dialogue.
In 2021 alone, Mexican authorities found more than 300,000 illegal migrants; Meanwhile, in the last three weeks, the United States detained 7,800 undocumented immigrants daily in the border area, almost five times the average of 2014-2019.