Some 5,000 migrants set out on foot from Mexico's southern border, tired of long waits for visas
Story by By EDGAR H.CLEMENTE, Associated Press •
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TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — About 5,000 migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti set out on foot from Mexico's southern border Monday, walking north toward the U.S.
The migrants complained that processing for refugee or exit visas takes too long at Mexico’s main migrant processing center 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 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 U.S. border in recent weeks, Monday's march is now just a drop in the bucket.
Migrants who had been waiting for temporary transit papers but failed to get them after waiting, some up to two months, leave Tapachula, Mexico, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, as they make their way to the U.S. border. The migrants said they did not have the resources to pay for more food and lodging as they wait.
“We have been traveling for about three months, and we're going to keep on going," said Daniel González, from Venezuela. “In Tapachula, nobody helps us.”
Returning to Venezuela is not an option, he said, because the economic situation there is getting worse.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/some-5-000-migrants-set-out-on-foot-from-mexico-s-southern-border-tired-of-long-waits-for-visas/ar-AA1j73ER?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=3b16ff7425f743a1bf91cd6517e056d1&ei=55
