Mexico: hundreds of migrants form a caravan before Donald Trump’s inauguration

“My idea is to arrive, to get an appointment before he (Trump) comes to power,” Colombian Yamel Enriquez told AFP, in reference to the asylum requests that foreigners file on the “CBP One” application of the American authorities. “If I don’t get the appointment before it arrives, I leave it to God’s will,” he added.

Republican Donald Trump has promised to use the army to carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history of the United States”. The billionaire describes the entry of undocumented foreigners across the border with Mexico as an “invasion”.

Venezuelan Zuleika Carreño confesses to being afraid “of staying on this side of the border and that all this way here has been in vain”.

Stopping “criminals and drugs”

On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was preparing a document highlighting the contribution of Mexicans to the American economy and presenting it to Donald Trump. The benefits of the free trade treaty that unites Mexico, the United States and Canada must also be defended, she added.

Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican exports if the federal government does not stop “criminals and drugs” entering the United States.

Migrants have been gathering for several years in processions of several hundred people to ask the Mexican authorities for transit documents. These caravans experienced a peak in mobilization in 2018 during Donald Trump’s first term (2017-2021).

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