Politics

Mexico strengthens southern border due to approaching migrant caravan

Mexico City, Oct 2 (efe-epa).- Mexico reinforced its southern border Friday with hundreds of immigration agents, National Guard and Armed Forces ahead of the migrant caravan that left Honduras for the United States days ago.

“Hundreds, there will be hundreds,” assured the commissioner of the National Institute of Migration (Inami) of Mexico, Roberto Garduño, during the reinforcement of security at the border with Guatemala, the entry point of previous caravans.

Inami confirmed in a message on social media that these security and migration elements have been installed mainly at the border points of Ciudad Hidalgo and Tenosique, in the states of Chiapas and Tabasco.

Garduño said the caravan is “not going to pass” and asked that “they only observe the migration law: a humane orderly migration with respect for human rights.

He recommended that people who are going to enter Mexican territory “respect and observe the migration law” during a tour along the banks of the Usumacinta River, which marks the border between Mexico and Guatemala.

The commissioner of Inami and General Vicente Hernández, commander of the 36th Military Zone, roll called the hundreds of federal agents “who will maintain a safe, orderly and regular migration,” said the agency.

Garduño ratified Inami’s commitment to comply with the staples of the Mexican migration law, as well as to guarantee humane treatment respecting human rights.

A day earlier, Inami confirmed that everyone who uses its facilities and entry areas in the country must comply with health protocols with federal criminal codes and the states of Chiapas and Tabasco will have penalties of five to 10 years in prison for anyone who endangers the health of another person.

This warning has been issued after learning that a caravan with hundreds of migrants left Honduras for the US after two weeks of borders in Guatemala being reopened.

Migration in Mexico has risen since October 2018, when caravans with thousands of Central American migrants began entering the country to reach the US.

In June 2019, Mexico reached an agreement with the US and then deployed to the southern border thousands of National Guard officers, the military-trained police force created by president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. EFE-EPA

jth/dss/tw

Related Articles

Back to top button