Thousands of migrants leave southern Mexico for the US amid fears of asylum policy changes post-election

About 2,000 migrants left Mexico’s southern border on Sunday, heading north towards the United States. This migration wave comes just weeks before the US presidential election, where immigration remains a contentious issue.

The Pew Research Center highlights that immigration has become increasingly important to voters, with 61% citing it as a key issue, a 9% increase from the 2020 presidential election. This surge in migrants is reportedly driven by two main factors: economic struggles in southern Mexico due to an influx of foreigners, leading to scarce job opportunities, and delays in US asylum appointments.

Some migrants, like Venezuelan Joel Zambrano, believe a new administration in the U.S. could put an end to asylum appointments through an online system called CBP One.

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“That is what makes us fearful. They say this could change because they could both close the CBP One appointment and all the services that are helping migrants,” he said.

“The situation in my country is very bad, the president doesn’t do anything for us. We spent a week by the border, but getting documents takes time,” said Honduran Roberto Domínguez, 48. “The documents we get are only for us to be in Tapachula and we cannot leave the city.”

The group leaving Sunday was the third and the largest since the beginning of the administration of new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who so far has made no changes in immigration policies established by her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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Groups of 800 and 600 migrants left the region earlier in October.

Activist Luis García Villagrán estimates about 40,000 migrants are currently stranded in southern Mexico.

With inputs from agencies.