MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president on Wednesday unveiled a bilingual “hymn” to Mexican migrants residing in america, whilst migrants from different international locations proceed to suffer abuses, delays and hostility in Mexico.
President Claudia Sheinbaum used her morning information briefing to current the tune “Migrant Hymn.” The lyrics, a mixture of English and Spanish, embody strains like “the place we’re from, no nos rajamos” (we do not surrender).
Sheinbaum referred to as Mexican migrants “heroes,” partly as a result of they sent $63 billion back home to kinfolk in Mexico final 12 months.
Stressing migrants’ loyalty to Mexico, the tune says “Cambiamos de lugar, no de bandera” (we modify our location, not our flag).
Whereas about 11 million Mexicans stay in america — together with about 5 million with out correct paperwork — many had to flee Mexico because of violence or lack of alternatives, and it stays unclear how loyal or carefully tied they continue to be to the federal government.
On the identical day the hymn was unveiled, a migrant shelter within the northern border metropolis of Reynosa introduced it might not settle for newcomers, as a result of gangs had been kidnapping so many migrants from its doorstep.
Rev. Héctor Silva, who runs the Senda de la Vida (Path of Life) in Reynosa, throughout from McAllen, Texas, stated the state of affairs is so harmful within the cartel-dominated border metropolis that police escort migrants to appointments for his or her U.S. asylum functions.
“Till folks have safety they usually cease kidnapping migrants after they arrive … we do not need any extra arriving,” stated Silva.
Additionally on Wednesday, a brand new caravan of migrants began walking north toward the U.S. border from town of Tapachula, close to the border with Guatemala. The migrants stated they had been uninterested in being blocked from crossing Mexico by the federal government.
However they’ve little or no likelihood of constructing it various dozen miles. In November, Mexican officers broke up two comparable migrant caravans.
Aside from the a lot bigger first caravans in 2018 and 2019 — which had been offered buses to journey a part of the way in which north — no caravan has ever reached the U.S. border strolling or hitchhiking in any cohesive manner, although some particular person members have made it.
For years, migrant caravans have usually been blocked, harassed or prevented from hitching rides by Mexican police and immigration brokers. They’ve additionally incessantly been rounded up or returned to areas close to the Guatemalan border.
This week, the human rights group Medical doctors With out Borders wrote in a report that “a whole lot of 1000’s of migrants, the vast majority of whom are crossing to achieve america, fall into limbo in Mexico, hemmed in by violence.”
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