It’s a drop in the bucket, but AP reports that the Mexican Federal Police began arresting members of a migrant caravan that forced its way into Southern Mexico.
Mexican immigration authorities said 371 people were detained Monday in what was the largest single raid so far on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through the country last year.
The once large caravan of about 3,000 people was essentially broken up by the raid, as migrants fled into the hills, took refuge at shelters and churches or hopped passing freight trains. A brave few groups straggled along the highways, but with dozens of police and immigration checkpoints, they were bound to be caught.
Mexico claims the activity is for migrant safety.
Asked about the detentions at a Tuesday morning news conference, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that the government is not letting migrants simply go wherever they please. He denied taking a hard line, saying controls are for migrants’ security because human traffickers are allegedly infiltrated among the caravans.
And they say they are deporting them by the thousands.
He said it was not something he wanted to repeat. But he also maintained it was a normal migration enforcement action.
Guillén said Mexico has deported 11,800 migrants so far this month and is being more selective in who is given a humanitarian visa, which allows a migrant to remain in the country and work.
Mexico also claims to have issued an additional 15,000 humanitarian visas. These allow the migrants to stay in the country. But this week’s police action, the biggest I’ve heard reported, comes a week after President Trump threatened a new Tariff on auto imports if Mexico did not do more to stop the caravans.
This looks like a change in policy. But we won’t know until we see changes to the growing crisis on our southern border.
| HotAir
Image: KFOX
