• Americas The 'Christmas Caravan' that lays bare the migration crisis in the region

The caravan of thousands of migrants, which departed on Christmas Eve 2023 from Tapachula, Mexico's southern border, came to an end on Tuesday after having advanced about 105 kilometers and surrendered to agents of the National Institute of Migration (INM) in the municipality of Mapastepec, Chiapas state.

After nine days of marching, the huge group of migrants agreed to get on INM buses to be able to carry out a migratory process at the facilities of the National System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF), located about 50 kilometers from Mapastepec, next to the Huixtla customs office.

Before boarding the buses, immigration agents invited them to board the vehicles voluntarily, giving priority to children, mothers, women and vulnerable people.

"We invite you voluntarily to get on the buses that the INM provides to transport them," the agents said.

Some male migrants traveling alone refused at first to be transferred, because they wanted to continue walking to Pijijiapan, so as not to return to Huixtla, about 50 kilometers from Tapachula.

Luis Rey García Villagrán, an activist with the Center for Human Dignity (CDH), who accompanies this exodus, told them that they will enter a process and will be taken to Mexico City.

García Villagrán had told the thousands of migrants on Sunday that the Mexican government, starting Tuesday, would begin the process for a regular stay in the country.

"In the caravan there are many sick children, pregnant women, disabled people," Villagrán told the migrants and warned that the next point "is 43 kilometers away is Pijijiapan and there is no place to rest and it would be about 18 hours walking, it is your decision."

Honduran migrant Wilnber Abisai, who is traveling with his wife and two young children, agreed to get on the immigration bus because he said he is interested in going to Mexico City and being in the country legally.

"Yes, we are going to go through the process, because we are interested in being in Mexico legally, we have already walked a lot, we have suffered, our feet hurt, walking 48 kilometers is not easy, we accept the proposal of the INM to do the process and thus continue our path, it is the best option," he told EFE.

Another of the migrants, Honduran William Adalí Romeo Pérez, accepted the proposal of the Mexican authorities, because they will carry out the process before the DIF, however, he denied that they are turning themselves in to immigration.

"I'm going for my family, that's why I'm doing it, but no one here is giving themselves up, I'm going with my son, my wife and two girls, we trust in Migration but in God, the children are tired and we can't continue walking," he said.

As of tonight, more than 600 migrants had agreed to board about 12 buses, while authorities continue to organize families to be transferred.

The caravan of the so-called exodus from poverty was ready from 06:00 local time (12:00 GMT) to wait for the buses, but it was not until 16:00 local time (22:00 GMT) that the first group of 50 people left.

The caravan of thousands of migrants, which departed from Mexico's southern border as the largest of 2023, moved through a part of the state of Chiapas, where historic numbers of people seeking to enter the United States at the border with Mexico have been recorded.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last week confirmed the arrival of more than 2.2 million migrants from January to November last year.

  • Refugees
  • Mexico
  • United States
  • immigration