Mothers of Young Migrants Arrive in Mexico to Search for Missing Children

Mothers of young migrants who attempted to travel to the United States from Central America and are now missing arrived in Mexico on Oct. 23 to search for their children.

The group of 24 women, known as the 14th Caravan of Missing Migrants’ Mothers, was accompanied by activists as they crossed into Mexico from Guatemala holding pictures of their children and carrying flags from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

“Where are they, where are they, where are our children?” they chanted, reported El Universal. Many of the women have been searching for their sons and daughters in shelters, prisons, and holding centers.

The group met with migrants who are part of the migrant caravan heading towards the United States that’s estimated to have up to 8,500 people. The migrants and women sang the national anthem of Honduras together.

They plan to cross seven states to search for their children and spend some time in Mexico City.

Ruben Figueroa, the coordinator of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, said the mothers would, in addition to searching for their children, try to ask the United Nations to assist the migrant caravan and participate in upcoming events in early November, including the World Summit of Missing Migrants’ Mothers.

“Truth, justice, non-repetition, and reparation are pending issues that could allow the families of the disappeared to close the cycles of mourning and continue their lives in suspense because the disappearance does not give any allowance for an exit,” the movement said in a statement obtained by Prensa Latina.

Hondurans who are part of the migrant caravan ride on a truck near Huehuetan, on their way from Tapachula to Huixtla, Chiapas state, Mexico on Oct. 22, 2018. JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Perilous Journey

The journey for people attempting to reach the United States from Central America is perilous, with dangers including being robbed, raped, and killed.

Migrants must traverse over 1,000 miles in Mexico alone, and they often travel the so-called “train of death,” a network of local freight trains, to save time.

Mexican police officers often pull migrants off the top of the trains and force them to pay bribes in the form of money or sex, and the migrants often fall from the speeding trains and become seriously injured or killed, as detailed in the best-selling book “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario.

United States officials have repeatedly warned the migrant caravan of the dangers of crossing Mexico to America, while vowing the migrants will not be allowed to enter the U.S. illegally.

From NTD.tv