Frustration mounts as visa process slows for migrants in Mexico

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Tempers frayed among hundreds of mostly Central American migrants gathered on Wednesday in southern Mexico, delayed as Mexican officials sought to slow down the U.S.-bound flow that President Donald Trump is determined to turn back.

Since last week Trump has repeatedly threatened to close down the U.S.-Mexico border if Mexican officials fail to do more to thwart the migrants, potentially harming tens of billions of dollars in trade, but has also praised Mexican efforts following his outbursts.

The Mexican government has vehemently denied changing policy in response to threats, but has appeared to slam the brakes on its practice of awarding humanitarian visas that allow migrants from other countries to pass freely within its borders.

Without such papers, they are vulnerable to harassment and deportation from officials.

As many as 1,500 men, women and children traveling in a large group or caravan from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Cuba were gathered in the town of Mapastepec in Chiapas state, unable to obtain the temporary visas.

Mexico's immigration institute said it would prioritize giving the visas to vulnerable groups including the elderly and unaccompanied minors, while offering transport home for others.

Border Patrol agents on horseback patrol on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border in Otay Mesa, California, April 3, 2019. /VCG Photo

Officials were issuing very few of the documents, migrants said, and frustrations were mounting as a result.

"It's been hard for me to get here because there aren't any visas," said Cuban migrant Yuremi Garcia, who had traveled without papers from the southern Mexican border a few hours south to a crowded sports ground in Mapastepec, converted into a temporary shelter.

Garcia said he was tired of waiting and had decided to continue northwards together with others, despite the risk that Mexican authorities would deport them.

Other migrants reportedly said Mexican officials had slowed down the process of awarding the visas or denied them outright without providing any explanation.

A small group lashed out at border officials in Tapachula on Tuesday over the delays, throwing rocks and breaking windows of a local migration institute building.

Edgar Corso, an official with Mexico's human rights commission, said that some 45 complaints filed with the commission by Cuban migrants since March 15 allege unreasonable delays in awarding the visas.

Migrants from Central America, waiting to begin their process to get their humanitarian visas to cross the country on their way to the United States, are seen outside an improvised shelter in Mapastepec, in Chiapas state, April 3, 2019. /VCG Photo

Last week, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said he would help ensure more orderly migration.

From December to February, his administration's first three months, Mexico sent home 19,360 migrants, 17 percent fewer than a year earlier, data from the National Migration Institute show.

The Mexican government has been providing daily updates to U.S. officials on how it is acting more aggressively to halt migration flows, and providing specific numbers on how many people are being apprehended, a senior White House official said.

Lopez Obrador told reporters on Wednesday at his regular morning news conference that his administration was "acting with an abundance of prudence," saying a border shutdown was in nobody's interest.

(Cover: Migrants from Central America wash their clothes at an improvised shelter while waiting for their humanitarian visas to cross the country on their way to the United States, in Mapastepec, in Chiapas state, April 3, 2019. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters