Migrants break border gate, force their way into Mexico

The National Migration Institute (INM) reported Friday that 350 migrants allegedly broke the border gate and forced their way into Mexico through the southern border.

The agency reported that at 03:30 (local time) a group of 350 people broke a padlock from the gate that separates Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas and Tecún Umán (Guatemala), to enter Mexican territory.

“With an aggressive attitude, they broke the lock that closes the border fence and entered the country,” said the National Institute of Migration (INM).

According to some local journalists, the large group went to the city of Tapachula, on the South Coast of Chiapas, Mexico.

The caravans

The AFP agency reported that after the entry of the migrants, a contingent of approximately 2,500 people would have been formed.

On Thursday, April 11, a new caravan, made up mostly of Hondurans, arrived at the Rodolfo Robles border bridge, located between Ciudad Hidalgo and Tecún Umán, to enter Mexico legally.

The authorities informed that the Central Americans went to the National Migration Institute to obtain documents that allow them to continue on their way to the United States.

Before the new waves, the Mexican government announced on March 28 that it will not close the southern border, but will not grant more massive humanitarian visas either.

According to statements by the Secretary of the Interior, Olga Sánchez Cordero, the Government would seek that the entry of migrants be “orderly” and announced that they would review the background of each one.

The US response

While thousands of Central American migrants enter Mexican territory with the desire to reach the US, President Donald Trump has threatened to close the southern border if Mexican authorities do not stop the flow.

“If Mexico does not immediately stop all illegal immigrants entering the United States through the southern border, I will close the border or large sections of the border next week,” the president tweeted at the end of March.

Some US media reported that Trump could further tighten the anti-immigrant policy, with new measures to encourage the separation of families.

In response, Trump said that the families of Central American migrants enter their country as if it were on a field day, in the absence of a policy that separates them.

“But when we do not, many more people come to the border, when you do not have it (that policy), you see a lot more people coming in. They come as if they were going to a picnic, in the plan of ‘let’s go to Disneyland,'” said the president.