Thousands of asylum seekers were lined up just north of the Guatemalan border in Tapachula, Mexico, Wednesday as they attempt to claim refuge — while government officials have warned some 80,000 others from Central America are following close behind.
The hoards of migrants photographed by The Post were in Tapachula to acquire visas which would allow them to stay in Mexico for 45 days.
Many are believed to be planning to head north toward the US — where pandemic era policy Title 42 is ending Thursday — as their ultimate destination, but Mexican authorities impose restrictions on where they can travel.
Some 60,000 have been stranded at the Tapachula processing center and over 444,000 migrants were detained in Mexico last year, a report from Diario De Mexico reported in September.
The camp is full of stranded migrants who risk deportation if they leave and had been described as “truly horrifying” by the Human Rights Watch, according to a report in The Nation.
The Tapachula center – and others like it – are likely to be a key part of the new immigration system the Biden admin is preparing to put in place when Title 42 ends Thursday.
Another 80,000 migrants are reportedly making their way through Guatemala, government sources said Tuesday, as the pandemic emergency order used which has been used to expel 2.8 million migrants over the past three years is set to end.
The Biden administration recently announced steps to mitigate the expected “chaotic” influx of up to 13,000 migrants a day when Title 42 expires.
The White House has deployed 1,500 troops to the southern US border to perform administrative tasks and is opening processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia where potential migrants can apply for refugee status or a worker program.
“We’ve gotten overwhelming cooperation from Mexico. We also are in the process of setting up offices in Colombia and other places where you could — or someone seeking asylum can go first. So, it remains to be seen. It’s going to be chaotic for a while,” President Biden said Tuesday.
The US has also said it will now process people fleeing violence and persecution at the southern border more rapidly, send those who don’t pass an initial screening back to their homelands and bar them from entering the US for at least five years.
“Let me be clear, our border is not open and not will be open after May 11,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said late last month as he outlined the new measures.
Tens of thousands of migrants are currently camped along the Mexican side of the US border, waiting for Title 42 to end. Some 81,000 have attempted to legally cross the border over the past week and a half while another 26,000 snuck into the country evading detection according to Border Patrol officials.
United Nations groups have warned some 400,000 migrants could attempt to cross into North America through the dangerous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama this year as they en route to the US.
The White House had committed to accepting 125,000 refugees in 2023 — but only allotted places for 15,000 people from Latin America and the Caribbean.