Mexico to Sign Agreement with Factories to Provide 40,000 Jobs to Migrants

Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said he was expecting to sign this week an agreement with factories located in the cities of northern Mexico to provide migrants with 40,000 factory jobs.

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“This agreement is going to be signed, there will be no legal problem,” Lopez Obrador said, adding that “we are arranging this so that they can be hired without much processing.” Factories in northern Mexico are struggling with employee shortages, so the measure could fulfill two needs for both factories and migrants.

However, and even though the Mexican President has doubled the minimum wage in the states along the U.S. border, salaries are still lower than in those Central American countries from where people are fleeing.

Other than that, many migrants do not have the legal authorization to work in the country and various towns including Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez are struggling to provide them with shelters as their number grows on a daily basis. Lopez Obrador announced that plans are being undertaken by his administration to build shelters and provide more resources to the cities.

“Funds are being authorized so there will be resources in the shelters, so they do not lack food, medicine, medical attention,” he said.

The same shelters and work opportunities will also be provided to migrants at Mexico's southern border with Guatemala.

Immigration facilities in Mexico have become more crowded since the government increased the detention of migrants heading for the northern border, after striking a deal with the U.S. government. As Mexico pledged in June to do more to stop the flow of migrants to the U.S. after President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on Mexican exports, the situation shows no signs of improving.

Migrants must wait weeks and even years seeking U.S. asylum under a policy known as “metering,” which limits the number who can apply each day.