Mexico has tightened immigration controls since the US began expelling Venezuelans

Mexican security and migration authorities have stepped up their patrols, checkpoints and operations in the south of the country since the United States began expelling Venezuelan migrants last month.

The Mexican government has not said whether its security actions near the Guatemalan border are related to the change in US policy, which virtually closes the door on Venezuelans trying to enter the United States through Mexico. But the actions have made migrants in the city of Tapachula, in the southern tip of Mexico, nervous.

Authorities have also been more active in dispersing small migrant caravans trying to move north from Tapachula.

For months, the government appeared to encourage small groups of migrants to leave Tapachula, in order to ease mounting pressure and frustration in the town. It established a migration center that issues temporary documents, which is located in San Pedro Tapanatepec, some 290 kilometers (180 miles) to the northwest.

But a small caravan that was scheduled to leave the city on Monday consisted of just 100 migrants. And authorities dispersed two other groups that had left last week after letting them travel about 90 miles (145 kilometers).

Honduran Orley Castillo has been living with his 15-year-old son in Tapachula’s central park for a week. In that time, he has seen members of the National Guard and immigration pursuing migrants, including on one occasion in which both were detained until they presented documents showing they had applied for asylum.

The Venezuelan Doris Medina and the Ecuadorian Omar Montalván tried to travel to the north of Tapachula by public transport, but in less than half an hour Montalván was detained and transferred to a detention center for migrants. They had evaded other checkpoints by getting off the transport and surrounding the checkpoints on foot.

However, many find a way to continue on their way north. Thousands of migrants wait for temporary documents at the immigration center set up in tents in San Pedro Tapanatepec.

Savi Arvey, Adviser for the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Women’s Refugee Commission, visited the camp last week. She said there are between 12,000 and 17,000 migrants waiting for temporary documents that limit migrants from moving through the state of Oaxaca.

On Wednesday, Humberto Parrazales, the mayor of San Pedro Tapanatepec, said he was going to ask federal authorities to remove the immigration center from his town. In a video posted on his Facebook account, he pointed out that it has been difficult to provide basic services for so many people and that the city cooperated as much as possible.

The Mexican agency that handles asylum claims does not have a presence in the camp, limiting migrants’ options, Arvey said. Non-governmental organizations, including his own, do not have access to the government tents, unlike the migrant camps in the northern border cities of the country.

Migrants sleep along the town’s main street, rent space on the ground or stay inside government tents, though immigration authorities deny this, Arvey says.

Some migrants try to use the documents to move north, but risk authorities tearing them up and sending the migrants back south.

Avery said immigration officials told her they process between 1,500 and 2,000 of these documents daily, but migrants complained about the wait time. “We talked to several people, who have been here for a week or even a month,” she stated.

The National Migration Institute did not respond to questions about activities at the camp.

Many of those waiting are Venezuelan migrants who remain confused about the policy Washington implemented last month that essentially closed the borders to them. The Venezuelans can apply for temporary admission to the United States from abroad if they meet certain requirements, including the presence of a sponsor on US soil.

“There needs to be a much bigger humanitarian presence, considering how long this has gone on,” Arvey said. “It seems like people are spending more and more time there.”

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