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| Source: France 24 |
Thousands of migrants who were trying to enter the country seeking to reach the U.S. border had been blocked by the Guatemalan soldiers. About 7,000 migrants who are mostly from Honduras have entered Guatemala which is a Central American country south of Mexico.
Migrants hoped to travel to Mexico and eventually reach the US border. Every year almost tens of thousands of Central American migrants, try to reach the US frequently on foot in groups known as "caravans".
The migrants scattered but several migrants threw stones at police. The police tried to control them by firing tear gas. There are many control points in different regions and on highways set up by the government.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has released a statement calling on Honduran councils to include the mass exit of its citizens. The migrants entered Guatemala by fighting against the 2,000 police and soldiers placed at the border.
Most of the migrants arrived without showing the coronavirus test that Guatemala had instructed. Governments have made it very apparent that they will not let the caravan pass through the region for now.
The government of Guatemala apologizes for this violation and calls on the governments of Central America to take necessary steps to resist putting their inhabitants at risk because of the health emergency due to the pandemic.
The soldiers were wearing helmets and held sticks, standing across a highway in Chiquimula, near the Honduras border, to prevent the procession of migrants.
Thousands of National Guard members and immigration agents are on the southern border to prevent the caravan from crossing into Mexico.
Migrants said that they are leaving persecution, violence, and poverty in their home countries. Their conditions have been made worse by the havoc wrought by two huge hurricanes that injured Central America.
The Honduran migrants are trying to cross Guatemala to reach Mexico as they are driven by worsening poverty and hence are looking for more promising places.
Reform in Migration Policies
Mr Lopez Obrador urged the US to improve its policies on immigration. He said that this is the time to fulfil the promise made. Many people have hopes that President Joe Biden would approve to work with Mexico and other nations on the migrant's issue.
Joe Biden's government offered to complete immigration reform and for now, the government is trying to prevent migrants from crossing into Mexico but promised to respect the rights of all migrants.
Almost the 11-nation Regional Conference on Migration expressed their concern over the exposure of various migrants to circumstances of high risk to their health and their lives.
Mexican officials said they had discussed the migration issues with President Joe Biden and national security advisor, Jake Sullivan.
They all talked over a program for the improvement of northern Central America and southern Mexico in response to the economic problem caused by the pandemic and the recent storms in the region.
This is the first time the caravan appears in 2021 and comes just days before Joe Biden takes over as US president. Joe Biden's government is widely seen as being more generous to migrants than the Trump government.
In recent weeks activists have urged Biden to remove Trump’s migrant policies including a devastating program that endangered tens of thousands of asylum seekers especially many of them children who are often exposed to violence, kidnapping, and rape by sending them back across the border into some of Mexico’s most dangerous cities.
President Donald Trump had made harsh laws against illegal immigration particularly along the southern US border with Mexico. He has also put the burden on Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras to crack down on north-directed migrants.
The Biden administration will prioritize undocumented immigrants already living in the US. President Biden plans to ask Congress for a renovation of immigration laws.
The changes will help 11 million immigrants now in the United States illegally, to have a new pathway to citizenship plus that will include aid for destroyed Central American economies and strategies to help people.
Biden advised that changes to immigration policy could not be put in place immediately and that his administration would need at least the next six months to develop a more humane policy for processing migrants.
Conclusions
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that this incident is going on with lots of problems like COVID-19, social exclusion, violence, and climate-related disasters that all are occurring at the same time in Central America raising new humanitarian challenges.
Biden has pledged to end the strict immigration policies of his predecessor but his new administration has instructed migrants not to make the journey because policies will not change overnight so he asked for migrants to have patience.
Written By - Supriya Singh
Edited by - Christeena George |
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