Mexican authorities clear makeshift migrant camp close to U.S. border

MEXICO CITY, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Mexican authorities on Sunday cleared a makeshift camp within the north of the nation the place a whole bunch of migrants heading in direction of the U.S. border had been holding out for greater than a yr in what rights organizations criticized as deplorable circumstances.

Practically 400 migrants have been transferred by bus to a few completely different shelters close to the border metropolis of Tijuana, the place they will stay “indefinitely,” mentioned town’s Mayor Montserrat Caballero.

Caballero promised assist for these migrants no matter whether or not they need to keep in Tijuana or return to their nations of origin.

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“We’ll pay for the transfers and, in the event that they need to wait for his or her ‘American dream,’ we’re additionally going to help them whereas they wait,” mentioned Caballero.

Dozens of safety personnel, together with troopers from the nationwide guard, have been seen dissolving the makeshift camp, fenced by steel mesh, in movies shared on social media.

Households, together with dad and mom with babies, have been seen packing up their belongings. There have been no stories of violence.

Caballero mentioned the troops weren’t armed and that migrants collected their belongings and boarded buses voluntarily as a result of they’d beforehand been notified they’d be transferred.

However one Guatemalan mom, who had arrived in Tijuana a yr in the past, and requested anonymity, mentioned she felt migrants had little alternative however to comply with orders.

On Saturday, Mexico’s Nationwide Human Rights Fee (CNDH) urged immigration authorities to hurry up the processes that might assist practically 2,000 migrants on the southern border get paperwork to regularize their keep in Mexico or allow them to journey via the nation with out being detained. read more

Tens of hundreds of migrants flee their dwelling nations every year in an try to achieve america, however lots of them additionally search refuge and safety in Mexico.