The number of migrants traveling through Mexico could soon reach 10,000

by Mexico News Daily

A third caravan of migrants is expected to leave Central America within the next week, which could bring the total number of people escaping poverty and violence by making the northward trek to nearly 10,000.

The third wave, believed to have been inspired by the caravan now traveling through Chiapas, is scheduled to leave El Salvador on October 28 and cross the border into via Tecún Umán, Guatemala, according to one report.

Organized on a Facebook group called El Salvador Emigrates for a Better Future, the caravan’s communications on social media are being monitored by the United States Department of Homeland Security, NBC News reported after obtaining an internal government report. That document indicated the departure date would be October 31, and that so far the migrants were largely families traveling with children.

The first and largest caravan entered Mexico via Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, last Friday and according to the United Nations is composed of more than 7,000 people. Today it is en route to Mapastepec, Chiapas.

A second caravan of about 2,500 people from Honduras that is currently in Guatemala has divided into two smaller groups.

Guatemala police said one group of about 1,500 people is en route to Tecún Umán while the other group of about 1,000 is planning to cross into Mexico at El Ceibo, Tabasco. Local media reported that the second group’s numbers have been augmented by migrants in the Honduras caravan who were deported from Mexico last week.

“Several units of the police are accompanying the caravan for security reasons,” said police spokesman Pablo Castillo. He also explained that military personnel and police attempted unsuccessfully to stop the advance of the group on Monday.

The Guatemala government said it was adopting measures to stop the entry of more migrants from Honduras and El Salvador into its territory, although attempts by both Guatemala and Mexico to halt the flow have failed.

In El Salvador, the government has taken a different stance. President Salvador Sánchez Cerén expressed support yesterday for the first caravan of migrants and criticized the position of U.S. President Donald Trump despite the latter’s announcement that he would cut aid to El Salvador and other Central American countries for not preventing the migrants from leaving.

“For us, to migrate is a human right so the rights of migrants have to be protected; we are totally opposed to the policy of Donald Trump,” he said.

Emigration from El Salvador has contributed to the development of the U.S. and helped the North American economy, Sánchez continued.

Trump has claimed that there are “Maras,” or members of the criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha, among the migrants, although the gang originated in Los Angeles, California. However, most were originally from El Salvador.

Source: El Universal (sp), NBC News (en), Infobae (sp)

UN warns some migrants are in danger should they be deported
Refugee agency says they are fleeing ‘real danger’ back home

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has warned that the migrant caravan currently traveling through Mexico is likely to include people fleeing “real danger” in their countries of origin.

UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, today that “in any situation like this it is essential that people have the chance to request asylum and have their international protection needs properly assessed, before any decision on return/deportation is made.”

The federal government last week warned members of the caravan, made up mainly of Hondurans, that if they enter Mexico illegally, they will be detained and deported.

However, after attempts to prevent the caravan from entering Mexico on Sunday proved futile, the migrants have walked and/or traveled on the back of trucks or in other vehicles through Chiapas unimpeded.

The government invited the UNHCR to help attend to the migrant caravan, whose numbers have been estimated as high as 7,000 people.

Most of the migrants don’t have visas and haven’t formally requested asylum with the National Immigration Institute (INM).

Around 200 migrants remain camped out on the bridge in Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, on the border between Guatemala and Mexico waiting to enter Mexico legally, the newspaper Milenio reported.

Edwards said that as of yesterday there were 45 UNHCR staff in Tapachula, Chiapas, and that others are en route.

“We are going to offer employment, work for Central American migrants,” said the president-elect, Andrés Manuel López Obrador

by Jorge Monroy

“We are going to offer employment, work for Central American migrants,” said the president-elect, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reiterating that in order to reduce the migratory phenomenon, it is necessary to create welfare conditions.

At a press conference in Tamaulipas, after meeting with Governor Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca, Lopez Obrador was questioned about whether the Mexican government should allow the passage of the caravan of migrants from Honduras. In response, Obrador said that migrants should be seen beyond the free passage.

He reiterated that one of the solutions is that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, accept the plan that he proposed to generate development in Mexico and the Central American region.

“It has to do with the same, we are asking the government of the United States, the government of Canada, the implementation of a development plan in Mexico and in the Central American countries, we are making a proposal for cooperation for development. The one who leaves his town does it out of necessity, not for pleasure, and we want the migration to be optional, not compulsory, and for people to work, be happy where they were born, where their relatives are to temper the migratory phenomenon, they have to take care of the causes; there must be investment to generate employment, improve living conditions, work in Central America and in our country; I explained this to President Donald Trump; He will accept our proposal, is carrying out a bilateral consultation process, we have information about what is happening in Central America and our position is to face the migratory phenomenon with development, with work, with well-being in Central America and in the country ” he commented.

But should the caravan be allowed in? -She was asked.

“There are options, there are alternatives. It’s not just about that (letting the caravan go by), it’s about giving options, giving alternatives, that those who leave their villages have job opportunities, we in Mexico, from December 1, we will offer employment I work with Central American migrants, that is a plan that we have; that who wants to work in our country, will have support, will have a work visa, we are seeing that. It is not dealing with the issue only with deportations or with measures of force, but by giving options, alternatives. This plan will be announced as of December 1, and we are looking for joint support, and progress is being made. In the last call I had with President Donald Trump, we celebrated the signing of the free trade agreement with the three countries, a trilateral agreement, and I told him that the second step is the development plan that includes Central America to promote productive activities , create jobs, and in this way confront the migratory phenomenon, not with deportations, not with measures of force, but giving people who leave their villages looking for work, “he said.

López Obrador said that the migratory phenomenon must be approached with respect to human rights and giving work options to those who are forced to leave their villages.

“The plan is that nobody is forced to emigrate, that’s the ideal, and if they already make the decision to leave their villages, they have options in Mexico. The plan of our development are like curtains to give job opportunities, all the south will have possibilities of occupation, of employment, for thousands of workers, because we will plant in the south-southeast 1 million hectares of timber trees , 400,000 jobs will be created, the Mayan train will be built, it is an investment of 8,000 million dollars, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec will be developed, that is another curtain. What results from the consultation on the airport in Mexico City will involve investment that will greatly strengthen industrial development in the Bajío. Here in the north there will be a free zone from Matamoros to Tijuana, taxes will go down from 16 to 8 percent VAT, to 20 percent the ISR, will increase the minimum wage to double in the border area, then, they are opportunities so that nobody is forced to leave the country, “he said.

In another related news in Mexico under Peña Nieto administration

Mexico to migrants: you will be deported if you do not have documentation
As many as 4,000 migrants are believed to be heading for Mexico’s southern border

The federal government has warned to caravan of Central American migrants traveling to the United States via Mexico that if they enter the country illegally they will be detained and deported.
In a joint statement, the secretaries of Foreign Affairs (SRE) and the Interior (Segob) said that in accordance with the law, anyone who enters Mexico “irregularly” will be “rescued” and subjected to review.

If they do not have the required documentation they will be returned to their own country.

The statement said the measure “responds not just to compliance with national legislation” but also to the government’s interest in avoiding migrants becoming “victims of human trafficking networks.”

More than 200 Federal Police officers arrived in Tapachula, Chiapas, yesterday to help the National Immigration Institute (INM) secure the southern border. The organization’s chief, Manelich Castilla, traveled to the border city earlier this week.

As many as 4,000 mainly Honduran migrants fleeing poverty and crime are planning to travel through Mexico to the United States, infuriating U.S. President Trump.

Many are traveling on foot, some with babies and small children, while others are in buses.

One Honduran whose legs had to be amputated after he fell from a Mexican freight train during an attempt to get to the United States in 2015 is trying again. This time a fellow migrant is pushing his wheelchair.

by Mark Hedin
Ethnic Media Services

The Department of Homeland Security on Sept. 22 announced plans to drastically change the terms under which it bars people it deems likely to depend on government support from entering the country or getting green cards.

The new proposal would expand the factors the government would use in deeming someone a public-charge risk, which are currently limited to those likely to need cash aid, defined as welfare or long-term institutionalized care.

Now, Homeland Security is proposing to also bar those likely to need housing assistance, non-emergency Medicaid, Medicare Part D – help with prescriptions – or nutritional aid such as food stamps, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) lawyer Erin Quinn said in San Francisco.

Word of the pending changes has rocked ahe immigrant community, with many considering quickly disenrolling from benefit programs to protect their green card applications or the prospects of family members who might be applying.

To address these concerns, the ILRC on Sept. 27 hosted a teleconference coordinated by Ethnic Media Services to discuss the proposed changes, who they are most likely to affect and what steps might be prudent ꟷ or imprudent ꟷ to take in anticipation.

Joining Quinn in the hour-long call were Wendy Cervantes of Washington, D.C.’s CLASP (Center for Law and Social Policy), Maria Gonzalez of Boston’s Health Care for All, Karlo Ng, of the National Housing Law Project in San Francisco, and Amanda Lugg of New York’s African Services Committee.

The impact of the proposed rule change would be significant. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 2.3 million of the 4 million legally present noncitizens who arrived during the past five years could be at risk of a public-charge determination ꟷ up from the current 3 percent, ILRC’s Sara Feldman said in opening remarks.

“Immigration laws are very complex. It’s best to think about it on a case-by-case basis,” Quinn said, and urged people to talk to an accredited immigration attorney before dropping any services.
“It’s really important that families get the services they need now and not worry about possible speculative impact about those use of benefits in the future.”

“Even if it’s enacted as written, we expect any changes will be way off in the future,” Quinn said. And even once they’re in place, if they ever are, they’ll be “forward looking,” not retroactive. This means that people will be judged not on what benefits they may have received before the rules changed, but on their needs going forward.

Quinn said that the changes in policy will appear when trying to enter the United States and when applying for a green card.

“Permanent residents looking to naturalize will NOT be affected,” she said.

She recommended the ILRC web site resource “Ready California” (https://ready-california.org/#1) for those concerned about how to prepare for the new regulations.

Amanda Lugg, of the African Services Committee, also urged people to get professional legal advice before making any changes, and repeatedly counseled against taking action based only on the advice of neighbors or other nonprofessional casual acquaintances.

For example, the National Housing Law Project’s Ng, said, there are a variety of distinctions the law will make around the various forms of Section 8 housing vouchers. Those in the name of an immigration applicant’s dependent, for instance, won’t be counted against the applicant.

And some people fitting into certain particular categories, such as crime victims or those seeking to escape domestic violence, would be exempt from the changes.

The proposed rule changes give the administration “enormous discretion” in determining whether someone meets the public charge standard. Negative factors it could apply include being a senior or a juvenile, limited English proficiency, poor health, or having a family income below 250% of the poverty line – $63,000 annually for a family of four, a threshold 40% of U.S.-born people wouldn’t meet, Cervantes said.

“Millions of families would be impacted if this rule is finalized. … In fact, DHS and the rule itself point out that it would lead to increased poverty and worse health outcomes for certain families including U.S. children.”

“The proposed rule would have a detrimental impact on the housing stability of millions of immigrant families,” Ng said. Federal housing programs help immigrant families who are “one step away from homelessness.”

Immigrants with disabilities, chronic health conditions, a medical condition that requires extensive treatment, and no insurance would find those all heavily weighted negative factors according to the proposed new rules.

Fearful of impacting green card hopes, Lugg said her clients already are expressing a reluctance to accept housing vouchers or use anti-retroviral drugs to combat HIV.

The proposed rule changes threaten to reverse years of work and hard-won progress fighting AIDS and create a “backdoor reinstatement” of the “de-facto ban” of HIV-positive individuals that was overcome in 2010, Lugg said.

For the short term, nothing happens until the proposed changes are published in the Federal Register as a NPRM ꟷ notice of proposed rule making, which could happen in the next couple of weeks. Once it does, the public has 60 days to comment.

The Department of Homeland Security is obligated to consider those comments and include responses to those comments in its final wording of the rules. That process alone could take from months to years to finalize, Quinn said.

After that, there’s another 60 days before the rules would take effect.

Lugg said the Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign is hoping to see 100,000 public comments registered on the topic. Those comments must be made in English and should be one per person ꟷ writing something for others to sign onto would only count as one comment – Lugg said, and “you need to tell a story of how you or someone you know would be impacted.”

“We have an opportunity to fight back,” Lugg said, “and we’ll win. When this administration has gone too far, as it has before and as it has with this rule, we’ve seen the American people fight back. We’ve seen it with the travel ban. We’ve seen it with the child separation policy. And now we’ll see it with this public-charge draft rule.”

So, Quinn cautioned about disenrolling from benefits with the assurance that there would be enough time “to give members of our community notice if they need to disenroll from services.”

by EFE

The Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, said yesterday that the errors of justice during the socio-political crisis in Nicaragua are documented, to bring the Government of Daniel Ortega before international justice.

“All the errors that have been made in the rigged judicial system that exists in Nicaragua are being documented to take them first to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), so that there is a judgment against the Government of Nicaragua for the mistreatment of people, “said the representative of entrepreneurs in the Alliance, Juan Sebastián Chamorro.

Both the Alliance and organizations defending local and international human rights point the Government to the death of between 325 and 528 people, due to acts of repression since the social outbreak last April 18. The Government has admitted 199 victims.

The agencies also affirm that in Nicaragua there are at least 558 “political prisoners” imprisoned after participating in protests against Ortega.

The government is also attributed “extrajudicial executions, torture, obstruction of medical care, arbitrary detentions, kidnappings and sexual violence, among other human rights violations.”

Among the international organizations that have made such statements are the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Acnudh), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), and Amnesty International (AI).

Ortega denies being responsible for the accusations and maintains that everything is due to an attempted “coup d’état”.