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The Mexican government is working hard to break up caravans of migrants trying to make the treacherous journey north to the US before President-elect Trump opening in less than two weeks.
Faced with the prospect of massive tariffs on goods under the new administration, Mexico has been dispersing migrants across the country to keep them away from the U.S. border, including leaving them in the once-vibrant tourist hotspot of Acapulco, a beach resort town in Mexico City. The Pacific Coast became famous for the jet set in the 1950s and 1960s.
Once the crown jewel of Mexico’s tourism industry, the city now suffers under the thumb of organized crime and is still struggling to recover after taking a direct hit from powerful Hurricane Otis in 2023. It now has one of the highest rates of ‘highest homicides in Mexico.
The Mexican government is working hard to break up caravans of migrants trying to make the treacherous journey to the northern United States ahead of President-elect Trump’s inauguration in less than two weeks. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
MORE MIGRANTS LIKELY TO PRESENT AT THE BORDER ALL CHOSEN CARAVAN REPORTS: EXPERTS
Yet the authorities are leaving busloads of migrants there with little support and few options.
The Mexican government has adopted a “dispersion and attrition” policy to reduce the number of migrants arriving at the US border. Authorities let the migrants walk for days until they are exhausted, then offer to transport them to various cities where they say their immigration status will be reviewed.
The migrants tell The Associated Press that they accepted an offer from immigration officials to come to the city on the premise that they could continue their journey north to the U.S. border, but instead have been essentially abandoned there.
Desperate migrants could be seen sleeping on the streets in tents on Monday and say they fear Mexican drug cartels could attack them to kidnap and extort money, although many migrants say authorities also extort money from them. .
“Immigration officials told us that they would give us a permit to move freely through the country for 10 to 15 days and that was not the case,” Venezuelan Ender Antonio Castañeda, 28, told the Associated Press. “They left us dumped here with no way out. They won’t sell us (bus) tickets. They won’t sell us anything.”
President-elect Trump doubled down on his tariff threats on Tuesday. (Reuters)
MORE MIGRANTS LIKELY TO PRESENT AT THE BORDER ALL CHOSEN CARAVAN REPORTS: EXPERTS
Castañeda, is one of the thousands of other migrants he had he left the southern city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border in recent weeks in hopes of crossing the Mexican border into the US before Trump takes office.
It would take an adult migrant about 16 days of nonstop walking to reach the southernmost point of the U.S. border, Matamoros Pass, near Brownsville, Texas. Migrants prefer to travel in caravans because they believe there is safety in numbers, as it is difficult or impossible for immigration agents to detain large groups of hundreds of migrants.
Trump has threatened Mexico with a 25% tariff on imported goods from Mexicoand the country is hoping that the lower numbers will give them some protection from Trump’s pressures.
Trump is expected to crack down hard on illegal crossings, which have skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration. He has also promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history and has done so appointed hard-line governor of South Dakota. Kristi Noem serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), while Tom Homan will be the new “Border Tsar.”
Migrants sleeping in Acapulco earlier this week. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente/AP Images)
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In addition, he has also pledged to end the Biden administration’s use of parole programs that allow migrants to enter through expanded “legal pathways.”
On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his threat at a press conference where he also said he would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
“Mexico must stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country. They can stop them. And we will put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada, because Canada, they also go through Canada, and the drugs that are coming in are in record numbers, record numbers. So we’re going to offset that by putting tariffs on Mexico and Canada, substantial tariffs,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
