Authorities in Mexico dissolved two caravans of would-be illegal immigrants heading to the United States, just days after President-elect Donald Trump warned he would levy a 25 percent tariff on imports from the country.
Migrant activists said this week that some were bused to cities in southern Mexico, and others were offered transit papers. Migrant rights activist Luis Garcia Villagran said the breaking-up of the two caravans appeared to be part of “an agreement between the president of Mexico and the president of the United States.”
The first of the caravans started out from the southern Mexico city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, on Nov. 5, the day Trump was elected. At its height, it had about 2,500 people. In almost four weeks of walking, it had gone about 270 miles to Tehuantepec in the state of Oaxaca, activists said.
In Tehuantepec, Mexican immigration officials offered the migrants free bus rides to other cities in southern or central Mexico, members of the caravan and activists said.
“They took some of us to Acapulco, others to Morelia, and others from our group to Oaxaca city,” said Barbara Rodriguez, an opposition supporter who left her native Venezuela after that country’s contested presidential elections earlier this year.
The second caravan of about 1,500 migrants set out on Nov. 20 and made it about 140 miles to the town of Tonala, in Chiapas state, activists say. There, authorities offered a sort of transit visa that allows travel across Mexico for 20 days.
However, in its two statements, the agency denied claims the government “deceives foreigners who decide to abandon their transit through caravans and accept the transportation service offered by immigration authorities to move to different points where they have medical services and their immigration status is reviewed,” according to a translation.
The INM said that it also has “not received any complaints from foreigners who have opted for this aid, since when accepting it they expressed that they did not want to face more risks in their path,” according to the statement.
“At no time has the INM promised them anything that the institution has not fulfilled,” it said.
What’s more, it said, INM found girls, boys, and other “vulnerable people” within those caravans. Those people were removed from the caravans and referred for care to other government agencies under Mexican law, the agency said.
Last week, Trump warned that his incoming administration would quickly impose the tariff on Mexican imports if the country fails to make inroads in curbing illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
In a statement that same week, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had a conversation with Trump and indicated that progress was being made.
“You may not be aware that Mexico has developed a comprehensive policy to assist migrants from different parts of the world who cross our territory en route to the southern border of the United States,” she said, according to a translation provided by the embassy.
The Epoch Times contacted the Mexican Embassy in the United States for comment but received no reply by publication time.
