Migrants leave on foot from southern Mexico to the US

Some 2,000 migrants — mostly Venezuelans — left southern Mexico for the north early Friday, pressing authorities to allow them to continue toward the U.S. border.

Migration has returned to occupy the center of attention with the discovery of a cargo truck abandoned in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 60 migrants inside. Fifty-three died in the failed clandestine immigration attempt.

At the same time, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government of President Joe Biden did not err in ending the controversial measure of his predecessor Donald Trump, which forced asylum seekers to continue their processes from Mexico.

The migrants left from Tapachula, in the southern state of Chiapas. Last month, when other massive departures of migrants from that city took place, the Mexican government rushed to give them temporary documents.

“One hundred percent we are going in honor of the migrants who have died, because we all know that it is no secret to anyone that (the victims of the Texas truck) were also fighting for a future, just as we are going,” said the Venezuelan Jonatan Ávila, one of the organizers of the march.

Many migrants can no longer stand the Mexican strategy of keeping them in the south, away from the US border. They complain that the process of normalizing their status – usually through an asylum application – is too long and given the scarcity of available jobs, they cannot wait that long.

Doris Perdomo, a Venezuelan migrant traveling with two young children, referred to the ruling of the United States Supreme Court and said she had received the false news that Biden would allow all migrants to enter the United States.

“There was the news yesterday that Biden gave free passage, that he is not going to return any immigrant,” said Perdomo, who had been in Tapachula for a month waiting to obtain documents.

However, the court’s ruling would likely have little immediate impact, because the Biden administration had rarely applied the so-called “Remain in Mexico” measure.

Another Trump measure that remains in place and was not affected by Thursday’s ruling allows the government to quickly expel migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum — despite US law and an international treaty — on the grounds of containing the transmission of COVID-19. More than 2 million people have been expelled since that rule went into effect in March 2020.

Although the migrant caravans have attracted the attention of the press, those who participate in them represent a small percentage of the migratory flow that arrives at the border daily, generally with the help of smugglers.

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