With a cross in tow, migrants marched before the caravan

Around 250 migrants from various countries marched on Thursday through the city of Tapachula, in the state of Chiapas, prior to the departure of the caravan called “Migrant Way of the Cross” that will leave this Friday to Mexico City to demand the regularization of their immigration status.

On their march, the foreigners carried a wooden cross and walked about 12 kilometers from the Bicentennial Park to the offices of the judiciary.

At that point they delivered packages containing applications for amparos that they have requested from the judicial authorities and the National Institute for Migration (INM).

During their march, migrants made a statement outside the National Guard barracks.

“We want to tell the National Guard that we are not enemies of anyone, that we are not invaders in this country, that we are respecting the laws established in the Constitution,” he added.

Carlos Espinal, a migrant from Honduras, told the media that they will walk in this caravan to have a better quality of life, security and economy.

“The goal is to be able to move forward and walk (...) and reach the destination because of that. We are going to walk in peace,” he stressed.

Luis Rey García Villarán, director of the Center for Human Dignification, asked the National Guard to give migrants “free passage”.

The caravan, in which migrants who have been stranded for weeks, even months, participate in Tapachula, plans to arrive in Mexico City where they will demand immigration documents because in Chiapas, they reported, they have not found attention from federal authorities.

Foreigners indicated that they have been in a makeshift camp in a park for weeks and sleeping in tents.

On March 12, during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's visit to Chiapas, dozens of migrants staged a shocking protest.

Amid cries of “Freedom”, some of the migrants chained themselves to crosses, while others sewed their lips in order to exert pressure and get the immigration authorities to grant them the Humanitarian Visitor Cards that regularize their presence in Mexico and thus be able to continue their journey towards the border with the United States, where they intend to seek political asylum.

The region is experiencing a record flow to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) detected more than 1.7 million undocumented immigrants on the Mexican border in fiscal year 2021, which ended September 30.

Mexico deported more than 114,000 foreigners in 2021, according to data from the Migration Policy Unit of the country's Ministry of the Interior.

In addition, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar) received a record 131,448 refugee applications in 2021. Of these petitioners, more than 51,000 are Haitians.

With information from EFE

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