Photo: John Moore / Getty Images
A wave of migrant children, alone or accompanied, has been confirmed in Mexico, so the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) launched an alert, due to the violence used to dissolve migrant caravans and the lack of services for minors.
“ The organization is monitoring the situation of migrants and refugees along the coastal highway from Tapachula to Tuxtla Gutiérrez , Chiapas (southeastern Mexico)… and has identified cases of serious injuries and family separation, ”said that agency in a statement.
He added that his monitoring has a special focus on the situation of children and adolescents, due to the violence of Mexican immigration authorities and National Guard personnel.
“(It was detected) disproportionate use of force by security forces against families with young children , in addition to the theft and destruction of identity documents that endorse the legal stay of these families in Mexico “, lamented Unicef.
A third migrant caravan was formed in southern Mexico, after authorities dissolved two, one with the use of violence over the weekend and another earlier this week, also with violent repression, according to local media reports, which shared videos and photographs on social networks.
The problem was It has focused on Tapachula and other municipalities in the state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, with migrants from Haiti, Venezuela and Central America, who seek to reach the north of Mexico to cross into the United States.
Unicef assured that many of the children who walk in the caravan have dehydration and that, in addition, they are receiving a very limited access to essential services “for your physical and emotional well-being, nutrition, education and protection.”
The migratory flow increased in Mexico since October of 2018, when caravans with thousands of migrants, mostly Central Americans, began to enter the country to reach the United States, so the then president Donald Trump pressured Mexico to stop them.
When the president Joe Biden arrived to the White House, it suspended its predecessor’s “Stay in Mexico” program that forced asylum seekers to wait for their hearing from Mexican territory.
With this, the migratory flow rebounded so that States The United States stopped last July at its southern border 212, 672 undocumented, the highest number in 20 years.
The National Institute of Migration (INM) of Mexico reported that from January to date has identified 34, 427 minors, accompanied and unaccompanied , who were transiting Mexican territory in irregular condition.
The Mexican migration entity indicated that this population flow tripled with respect to the same period in 2020 in which they identified 09, 703 under age, accompanied and unaccompanied.
With information from EFE