Going north no more?
Something interesting is happening south of the border: The caravans are no longer going north. This is because President Trump has closed the border, and getting in is a lot more complicated than it used to be.
So what do caravans do? Where do they go? Well, the answer is that they are staying in Mexico and looking for legalization there. This is the story:
Since Trump took office, the migratory flow to the United States has plummeted. Activists on the southern border report a drop of up to 80%. This is evident along the Suchiate River, which separates Mexico from Guatemala: where there used to be camps with hundreds or thousands of migrants waiting to cross, now there is almost no one. And the few who do cross do so in secret.
This is also reflected in the caravans: between October and January, the four months before Trump took office, 15 caravans departed from Tapachula. Since the inauguration, only two have departed. In these latter cases, the spokespersons leading the groups said they did not want to reach the United States, but rather to stay in Mexico.
Rather stay in Mexico? Let’s see how that works out.
My experience over the years is that Mexico was always very concerned with turning into an avenue to the U.S. I recall stories that “federales” or federal agents would hang around bus or train stations looking for “migrants.” Their approach was aggressive, and the message was clear: Don’t travel to the U.S. via Mexico. We will arrest you and send you back.
In recent years, for whatever reason, Mexico tolerated these caravans of non-Mexicans traveling to the U.S. It made a lot of Mexicans angry because the caravans offered nothing to Mexico. As a Mexican friend told me, a Mexican will go to the U.S., work, and send some money back. On the other hand, a non-Mexican will travel through our communities and leave nothing but trash behind.
The question today is this: How much longer will Mexico permit these caravans? They cannot take more people from other countries. So expect some deportations soon and barriers on their southern border to stop this.
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