Wilner Metelus, President of the Citizens' Committee for the Defense of Naturalized and Afro-Mexicans, estimates that nearly 18,000 Haitian migrants are currently stranded in Tapachula, on the southern border of Mexico, due to new restrictions on immigration from the United States and the inaction of the Mexican authorities and the lack of documents of the Haitians to be regularized...

Let's recall that on January 5, the Biden Administration launched a program of 30,000 permits for a conditional stay of 2 years for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, but the expulsion is immediate for all migrants arriving by land... https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38566-haiti-flash-new-us-entry-program-for-haitian-migrants-conditions-and-steps-to-follow.html

Wilner Metelus, assured that in Tapachula there are thousands of Haitians who do not go out in the street because they do not have immigration documents in order, others have health problems and many others continue to arrive despite the difficulties.

"Migrants are people who have left their country because of violence, economic problems and if there is no solidarity with migrants, the only ones who will benefit from it will be the criminals," recalls Metelus. His main request to the Mexican authorities is that they speed up procedures for Haitians, that there be health services and that people can find jobs.

At the same time, he asked the National Guard and the National Institute for Migration (INM) to suspend the detention of Haitians, Africans and other migrants because they do not pose a threat. In addition, he asked the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to release the migrants detained at the INM station Siglo 21, which he described as a "concentration camp".

Elsewhere in Haiti, Mrs. Judith Nazareth Auguste, Minister of Haitians Living Abroad (MHAVE), met on January 25, 2023 with the Mexican Ambassador to Haiti, Daniel Camara. Discussions focused on topics of interest to the Haitian Diaspora in Mexico, particularly on a project to establish a reception center for migrants from the border region of Tijuana. The Minister and her interlocutor addressed the important problem of identification of Haitian migrants. It will be a question of seeking, with the other governmental bodies involved in the question and the Mexican Government, avenues of cooperation for the resolution of this problem as regards the validity as well as the availability of the identity documents required by the Mexican immigration authorities.

Read also about the conditions of the new American Program : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38566-haiti-flash-new-us-entry-program-for-haitian-migrants-conditions-and-steps-to-follow.html

SL/ HaitiLibre