New Caravan Of 4,000 Migrants Set Out Towards Mexico City From South - Reports

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2021) A caravan of about 4,000 migrants from Central American states that have gathered at Mexico's southern border set out towards the Mexican capital, where they intend to draw the migration services' attention to their problems, national media reported on Saturday.

The caravan left the city of Tapachula in the Chiapas state in the morning and later in the day crossed the first cordon after a failed attempt to stop them by the Mexican security forces, the Milenio tv broadcaster said.

The number of people in the caravan heading to Mexico City, according to various estimates, is about 4,000-6,000 people. Those traveling with the caravan complained that the National Institute for Migration in Tapachula, where they are required to apply for the official procedure, has inflated the cost of basic services, while the rent in the city is high and there are no jobs, the news said. The delays in processing their asylum requests forced them to violate the regulations, according to the broadcaster.

"We will move forward and request dialogue with the migration authorities (in Mexico City). We come in peace," a member of the caravan told the broadcaster.

The first cordon of 200 police officers and employees of the National Migration Service did not arrest any of the migrants, and only briefly tried to stop the caravan while recommending that they return to Tapachula to continue official migration procedures.

The US immigration enforcement apprehended more than 1.7 million illegal migrants on the southern border with Mexico in fiscal year 2021, which is an all-time record, according to data published by Customs and Border Protection on Friday. The border crisis forced the Mexican authorities to toughen their stance towards migrants. Organized groups of people are usually dispersed by the security forces, returned to the southern border or deported without documents.