EFE.- The situation of hundreds of migrants stranded in Tapachula, Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala, has worsened in the last three days amid marches, protests, street blockades and complaints to the National Migration Institute (INM).
Migrants demand that the immigration authority expedite their legal stay to leave the city and move to another city where they can work and obtain financial resources.
This Wednesday, a group of Central American migrants, as well as others from Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela, marched from the central plaza of Tapchula to the facilities of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar) and later went to the subdirectorate of Immigration Regulation causing vehicular chaos in its path.
A migrant named Filomena, who traveled with her son from Haiti to Tapachula, stressed that after the death of her president and the 7.2 magnitude earthquake 10 days ago, hundreds of migrants have left her nation to seek a better quality of life, work and peace.
While Leader, leader of the Haitian migrants, assured that they have no problem with Mexicans, they only want a document that allows them to leave Tapachula.
To date, no immigration authority has heeded the requests or dialogued with the migrants seeking their legal stay in the country to transit or work.
Alex, another Haitian migrant, said that he has been sleeping on the street for five days, he does not have money to eat and all he is looking for is to have documents to be legally in Mexico and support his mother, who travels with him.
The foreigners who demonstrated peacefully, argued that they are not criminals, but people who seek well-being for their families.
After their departure, the migrants returned to the city center where they blocked an intersection where the municipal Public Security facilities and the offices of the National Migration Institute are located, where they caused vehicular chaos.
After several minutes of this closure, taxi drivers and local drivers expressed their discomfort and asked the migrants to unblock the road and return to their country to protest so as not to affect Mexican citizens with protests.
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THEY WILL LOOK OUT IN CARAVAN
After the mobilization, a Haitian migrant assured that before the authorities forgot, all the migrants will walk out in a caravan from Tapachula, which according to organizations is hosting more than 120,000 foreigners.
“This week we are going to make a caravan because we do not have answers from the authorities,” said the Haitian, who pointed out that both the Comar and the INM are not responsible for immigration procedures.
The foreigners denounced that the Mexican authorities want to retain them.
“We need a solution to get out of the city, because here we are kidnapped, we can’t even circulate in Tapachula,” they complained.
According to organizations, when starting the refugee process, migrants have to wait 45 days, plus 10 days of notification or in other cases 90 days, plus another 10, but due to the pandemic a decree was issued as of March 2020 that suspends the terms, so you have to wait three to six months to obtain refuge.
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