Mexican officials on Friday disbanded roughly 1,400 caravan riders currently standing in the border city of Piedras Negras, along the Texas border. The decision was made after the asylum seekers rioted earlier in the week, the Wall Street Journal reported. The group of people attempted to escape an abandoned factory where they were being housed. The goal was simple: to prevent the caravan riders from rushing the United States' border.
President Donald Trump also thanked Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for dealing with various caravans moving toward the United States' southern border.
“I just want to thank the president because he’s been helping us with these monstrous caravans that have been coming up. We had one that was up to over 15,000 people. It’s largely broken up. Others have gotten through,” Trump said.
One of Mexico's big pushes for dealing with those on the caravan has been offering them humanitarian visas, which gives them the ability to work and obtain an education in the country's southern most region. In January alone, Mexico granted 13,000 humanitarian visas, which the Mexican government hopes persuades these people, primarily from Honduras, to stay and work in Mexico.
The caravans have broken up and taken different paths. Smaller groups of people have decided to continue towards the United States. Others have decided to stay and work in Mexico. 2,500 are currently being housed in a shelter in Mexico City.
From WSJ:
Late Thursday, some 140 migrants stranded in Piedras Negras were sent by bus some 270 miles south to Saltillo, Coahuila’s state capital, immigration and state officials said. Another 150 people were relocated some 265 miles to the east, in the border town of Reynosa, in neighboring Tamaulipas state. The northern cities of Monterrey and Hermosillo will also receive migrants in the coming days, the officials said.
Most of the migrants are being sent to shelters run by charities. Authorities are offering them jobs so they can live by their own means, said a Coahuila state official.
Coahuila state authorities helped migrants to reach Piedras Negras earlier this month by providing them with buses in what some saw as an erratic response from both local and federal authorities.
Out of the 1,700 illegal aliens who arrived in Mexico at the beginning of the month, only 340 have received humanitarian visas, meaning they have no intention of staying in Mexico. Their goal is the United States.
Still, even some of those 340 with humanitarian visas have been caught attempting to illegally cross into America.
The reality is Mexico is overwhelmed with these caravans who are rushing the United States border. And so are the charities who are housing and feeding the caravan riders.