The first Hondurans hoping to succeed in the United States arrived Thursday morning at the Guatemalan border on foot as part of a newly formed caravan, testing the newly reopened border that had been closed by the coronavirus pandemic a month before the U. S. presidential election.
The Guatemalan government reported that more than 1,000 people had crossed the border into Honduras without documentation on their way to the United States.
Edwin Omar Molino, a 17-year-old from Cortez, said he left Honduras because he may not find a job and blamed President Juan Orlando Hernandez for sinking the country.
“Even when you need to find a job, there’s one. That’s why we’re leaving our country,” Mill told the Associated Press news agency.
“There’s a pandemic and that scares me,” he added, but he said he wouldn’t help his circle of relatives progress without taking the risk.
Central Americans have begun building giant teams in recent years, seeking security in numbers and, in some cases, avoiding the position of smugglers. Calls for a new caravan to depart on October 1 have been circulating on social media for weeks, and social media unfirmed. media publications appear to show teams crossing Honduras to the border.
The chances of a giant caravan of migrants reaching America’s already weak border have been increasingly reduced over the past year. Under pressure from the United States, Mexico deployed its national guard and more immigration officials to dismantle the caravans it attempted last year.
They dispersed giant teams of migrants seeking in combination in southern Mexico. In fact, legally crossing the United States is virtually more unlikely now with the pandemic, and entering without documentation is more complicated than ever.
Hondurans rest before taking part in a caravan bound for the United States from San Pedro Sula, Honduras [Stringer / Reuters] The breakdown of the new organization is reminiscent of a caravan of migrants that was formed two years ago before the mid-term elections in the United States. It has a hot topic in the campaign, leading to anti-immigrant rhetoric.
While caravans attract attention, they make up a small fraction of the daily migration of small teams that go unnoticed by Central America and Mexico.
The one who reached the Guatemalan border on Thursday had left on foot last night from San Pedro Sula, jumping the gun on his own planned exit.
The Guatemalan immigration government said Thursday that more than 500 were being prosecuted in Corinth, but that at most they did not have the required identity documents, the government planned to sign other people who entered the country and offer the assisted voluntary return to those they wanted. Get out.
AP hounds reported seeing others illegally crossing the border near the official crossing. A regional agreement allows Honduran citizens to transit through Guatemala.
The Guatemalan government required migrants to submit documents with a negative COVID-19 check; last week they said they wouldn’t want a check for those who spend less than 72 hours in the country. Dozens of Guatemalan police and infantry maintained order.
Those who walked through the dark streets on Wednesday night away from the bus station of San Pedro Sula carried small backpacks and many were dressed in masks, gave the impression of being more commonly young men, rarely were small boys in strollers.
Governments in the region said they were tracking on Wednesday. The Mexican immigration firm said in a statement that it would impose a “safe, orderly and legal” migration and that it would do nothing to announce the formation of a caravan.
The U. S. embassy in Honduras said Wednesday on Twitter that migration to the United States is more complicated than ever at the moment, and more damaging due to coronavirus.
– U. S. Embassy in Honduras (@usembassyhn) October 1, 2020
Translation: Now more than ever, it is more difficult to cross the US border. But it’s not the first time Illegally and the adventure becomes even more damaging due to coVID-19’s existing global pandemic.
However, the points that drove migrants out of Central America did not diminish the pandemic: while economies have suffered, fewer and fewer jobs, and families’ struggle to put food on the table has worsened. .
The UN International Labour Organization (ILO) said Wednesday that at least 34 million jobs had been lost in Latin America as a result of the pandemic.
The ILO ranks Latin America and the Caribbean as the most affected region worldwide in terms of hours of work lost, with a decrease of 20. 9% in the first 3 quarters of the year.
The flow of migrants north from Central America significantly decreased the pandemic, and countries in the region ended their borders. Most migrant shelters along the main roads closed their doors to newcomers as they tried to prevent the virus from spreading to vulnerable populations.
Mexico and the United States have sent many migrants back to their home countries in empty detention centers.
The U. S. government closes the asylum formula well on its southern border of the pandemic.
Mexico has attempted to send stranded asylum seekers on its northern border to other parts of the country and return them to their countries of origin.
Mexico has given migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum there, but many are looking for the United States. Migrants are likely to find it more difficult to locate paintings in Mexico now, as the economy is expected to contract by 10% this year. due to the effect of the pandemic.
© 2020 Al Jazeera Media Network