Mexican authorities arrest hundreds of migrants in the south | News Today

TAPACHULA, Mexico — About 800 migrants attempting to continue their journey north were intercepted by Mexican authorities early Friday after leaving the southern town of Tapachula overnight.

The attempted caravan of migrants followed a day of protest Thursday against attempts by the Mexican government to contain them in the south, away from the US border. The migrants had only traveled about 15 kilometers in the dark when they were intercepted around 5 a.m. by National Guard and immigration officers.

Migrants from Central America, Haiti, Venezuela and other countries were loaded into immigration vans.

On Thursday, hundreds of migrants demonstrated outside local offices of immigration and asylum authorities, complaining that the process of obtaining temporary legal status was too slow. Migrants have long said there is not enough work or housing for the thousands of people who have been waiting for months in Tapachula for their status to be resolved.

Many incur debt to migrate and anything that delays them from getting paid work makes their situation worse as they still have to pay rent and buy food.

Mexico has been inundated with asylum applications in recent years. Some migrants see staying in Mexico as a viable option while others see it simply as a way to obtain papers that allow them to transit freely through Mexico and get to the US border.

Tapachula is also home to the largest migrant detention center in Latin America. There was no official word on the number of migrants arrested Friday morning.

Luis García Villagrán, an advocate for migrants in the city, accused the immigration agency of causing the exodus by not resolving their cases.