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News > Latin America

500 Members of 'Viacrucis Migrante 2018' Head to US Border

  • The Mexico-United States border is the destination of the travelers, who hope to be considered for asylum by the Trump Administration.

    The Mexico-United States border is the destination of the travelers, who hope to be considered for asylum by the Trump Administration. | Photo: Reuters

Published 15 April 2018
Opinion

Members of the convoy could be heard shouting "Viva Mexico!" as the carts rolled out of the region.

About 500 men, women and children boarded a scrap metal train in Tultitlan, Mexico heading to the north of the country.

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Migrants Caravan Protests Trump Attacks as Mexico Grants Visas

The group, all members of the “Viacrucis Migrante 2018 (Migrant's Way of the Cross),” hail mainly from the Central American countries. The undocumented immigrants were held over in Tultitlan for a day before departing on the train which carried recyclable waste, glass and metal.

Members of the convoy could be heard shouting "Viva Mexico!" as the carts rolled out of the region. The group was bussed into La Concepcion, where they spend the night, before trekking two kilometers to board the slow-moving north-bound freights Saturday.

Director of the Pueblos Sin Fronteras, Irineo Mujica, said the Mexico-United States border was the destination of the travelers, who hope to be considered for asylum by the Trump Administration.

“Migrants ask to exercise their right to asylum in the United States,” Mujica explained, adding that they “do not want buses from the (Mexican) government, only to allow free transit.” 

Mujica further stated that the undocumented immigrants are fleeing violence and extreme poverty in their countries and that Mexico “has a lot of pressure from the United States to stop this group of immigrants... but all have the purpose of reaching the border.”

The Caravan initially carried between 1,500 to 2,000 members, most with Ministry of the Interior-issued documents authorizing 30-day stay in Mexico, according to Mujica. The Caravan departed Mexican-Guatemalan border town Tapachula, on March 25, to began the journey north.

Days later, U.S. President Donald Trump commented that “these big flows of people” heading to the U.S. border must be stopped.

Most of the travelers have chosen to stay in the Mexico City, Puebla and Toluca regions of Mexico.

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