Mexico offers routes north to migrants granted asylum in the United States
MEXICO — Mexico will offer escorted bus rides from southern Mexico to the U.S. border to non-Mexican migrants who have received asylum applications in the United States, the government announced Saturday.
The National Immigration Institute said the buses will depart from the southern cities of Villahermosa and Tapachula. It appears to be an attempt to make asylum applications more attractive to migrants who would otherwise head north to Mexico City or the border.
The announcement came a week after The U.S. government has expanded access to the CBP One app to southern MexicoAccess to the app, which allows asylum seekers to register and wait for an appointment, was until now limited to central and northern Mexico.
The Mexican government wants more migrants to wait in southern Mexico, farther from the U.S. border. Migrants typically complain about the lack of work available in southern Mexico for a wait that can last months. Many have debts from their journey and feel pressured to work.
Migrants who use the buses will also receive a 20-day transit permit allowing them to legally cross into Mexico, the institute’s statement said.
Previously, Mexican authorities had said they would respect migrants who showed they had an asylum appointment scheduled at the border, but some Migrants reported being stopped at checkpoints and sent back southforced to miss their appointments.
Local, state and federal law enforcement will provide security on the buses and meals will be provided during transportation, the institute said.
These journeys could also help discourage some migrants from undertaking the arduous journey north on foot. Three migrants killed and 17 injured this week, when a vehicle hit them on a highway in the southern state of Oaxaca.
Mexico has been pressuring the United States to expand access to CBP One, in part to reduce the influx of migrants into Mexico City. Over the past year, many migrants have chosen to wait for their appointments in Mexico City, where there were more jobs available and comparatively higher security than in border cities controlled by cartels.
Those who can afford it buy plane tickets to the border crossing where their appointments are scheduled, to reduce the risk of being arrested by Mexican authorities or by cartels, who kidnap and extort migrants.
