Hundreds of Central American migrants enter Mexico with few checks

[rooster59]

Hundreds of Central American migrants enter Mexico with few checks

By Sofia Menchu

 

People belonging to a caravan of migrants from Honduras en route to the United States, walk at the border crossing to Mexico in Hidalgo, Mexico, January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

 

TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) - Hundreds of mostly Honduran migrants entered southern Mexico on Friday, joining around 1,000 other people from Central America who crossed a day earlier and putting to the test Mexico's vows to guarantee the safe and orderly flow of people.

 

The cohort crossed the Guatemalan border into Chiapas state before dawn without needing the wrist bands that Mexican officials on Thursday gave migrants to wear until they could register with authorities, several migrants and an official told Reuters.

 

"The road today was open," said Marco Antonio Cortez, 37, a baker from Honduras travelling with his wife and children, ages 2 and 9. "They didn't give us bracelets or anything, they just let us pass through Mexico migration."

 

A migration official at the entry point, who asked not to be named because she was not authorized to speak to media, said that at least 1,000 people crossed from Guatemala into Mexico before dawn, without putting on wrist bands.

 

Asked why migrants did not receive wrist bands, David Leon, the director of civil protection, said authorities faced a caravan of hundreds of people early in the morning and let them pass rather than risk a confrontation.

 

The migrant group proceeded on foot alongside cars on a highway, accompanied by federal police officers, arriving at a shelter in the city of Tapachula around midday.

 

Sitting by the side of the road rubbing cream onto his children's feet, 40-year-old Honduran migrant Santos Pineda said he and his family entered Mexico easily, and without having to provide documents or wear any wrist bands. The family's plan was to press on to the United States, he said.

 

A migration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said those who entered without wrist bands ran the risk of being detained for crossing illegally.

 

Around 300 mostly Honduran migrants with wrist bands were still waiting to cross into Mexico on Friday afternoon.

 

Mexico's migration institute said the migrants can stay in temporary shelters in Mexico until they receive humanitarian visas allowing them to remain in the country, or they can wait in Guatemala for their document to be ready.

 

Groups of migrants left El Salvador and Honduras earlier in the week, the latest in a string of caravans of people largely fleeing poverty and violence.

 

The caravans have inflamed the debate over U.S. immigration policy, with President Donald Trump using the migrants to try to secure backing for his plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

 

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is pursuing a "humanitarian" approach to the problem, vowing to stem the flow of people by finding jobs for the migrants. In exchange, he wants Trump to help spur economic development in the region.

 

REUTERS: 2019-01-19

[Tug]

Is Donald going to have another panic attack?

[Scott]

Troll post removed. 

[mcambl61]

7 hours ago, Tug said:

Is Donald going to have another panic attack?

nope, it shows just how out of control things are on the southern border, plays perfectly into

the clear problems being ignored by the left. but you keep trying

[Burma Bill]

8 hours ago, Tug said:

Is Donald going to have another panic attack?

No, impeachment hopefully. The USA is in chaos at the moment - lies, fake news, partial Government shutdown and soured relations with Turkey over the Kurds in Syria.

[Thechook]

They pass through Mexico where they were offered refuge and continue on to the U.S where they "Demand" to be taken in as if it was their right.  Country shopping if you ask me if they turn down refugee status in one country and demand it in another.

[Scott]

Troll post removed.  

[Thainesss]

Its so blatantly obvious that the Democrats are all-in on changing the US electorate in their favor by not protecting the southern border and allowing things like this to happen. 

 

Its such a sick position that they have (and very thinly veil). 

 

And for all the "But democrats WANT border security"... Spare me. The dems clearly want to spend billions to FACILITATE this mess rather than stop it and take away the motivations and incentives that drive it. 

 

Completely nuts. 

[zydeco]

21 hours ago, mcambl61 said:

nope, it shows just how out of control things are on the southern border, plays perfectly into

the clear problems being ignored by the left. but you keep trying

Trump could shut down the US/Mexico border if he wanted. It has been threatened before and Mexico promptly acquiesced. He could order the Wall built.  But he won't. Because he wants to use these issues as distractions and deflections. He is getting ready to cave in to China and wants all eyes focused on the border. Why can't people see that every time something big is about to happen elsewhere, where Trump has failed, broke his promises, or flat out lied, he then goes tweet-mad about the Wall and what a big tough guy he will be in stopping the caravans. Whose participants, it seems, mostly managed to get right into the US, claim refugee status, get a hearing, get an ankle bracelet, then go about 100 yards and tear off the ankle bracelet, and disappear. Trump is an utter and complete fraud.

[Scott]

A post containing false information has been removed.   Continuing to ask others to justify precisely while posting false information is going to earn a suspension.  

 

No more free passes.