TAPACHULA (AP) – About 5,000 migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti set out on foot from Mexico’s southern border on Monday, walking north toward the United States (US).
The migrants complained that processing for refugee or exit visas takes too long at Mexico’s main migrant processing centre in the city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border.
Under Mexico’s overwhelmed migration system, people seeking such visas often wait for weeks or months, without being able to work. The migrants formed a long line on Monday along the highway, escorted at times by police.
The police are usually there to prevent them from blocking the entire highway, and sometimes keep them from hitching rides.
Monday’s march was among the largest since June 2022.
Migrant caravans in 2018 and 2019 drew far greater attention. But with as many as 10,000 migrants showing up at the US border in recent weeks, Monday’s march is now just a drop in the bucket.
