Thread: Mexico Has Its Own Southern Border Crackdown—But It Isn't Working (HBO)

Mexico Has Its Own Southern Border Crackdown—But It Isn't Working (HBO)

Jun 7, 2018



Ever since a caravan of Central American migrants started heading north from Southern Mexico in early April, Presiden​t Trump has used the occasion to accuse the Mexican government​ of doing nothing to prevent migrants from reaching the United States.

But that isn’t true. In the summer of 2014, when record numbers of Central American children and families were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Obama administration pressured Mexico to stop the migrant flow closer to the source: At its own southern border with Guatemala. Mexico readily complied, deploying unprecedented numbers of immigration agents, police, and military to shut down migrant routes, primarily in the southernmost state of Chiapas.

By some measures, the so-called Southern Border Program was successful: In its first two years, immigration arrests in Mexico shot up by 85 percent, according to an analysis by the Washington Office on Latin America.

But four years later, it’s clear that the Southern Border Program has created more problems than it’s solved.

The migrant crisis is far from over, and will continue as long as intense violence, poverty, and political instability push Central Americans to flee their home countries.

Instead, the crackdown has pushed migrants onto more remote and dangerous routes, where they’re vulnerable to predatory criminals who rob them — or much worse. ​

Those migrants who are apprehended often wind up stuck for months in southern Mexico while they await for their cases to be processed.

Many apply for asylum in Mexico, but even they, in many cases, want papers only so they can continue their journeys north undisturbed. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News

Trump don't lie ) close your border down I don't feel sorry for any of you (come to our country & see how our family live also ) our gov don't care about our country at all ( just mexico & the hell with our country (the Dem just want your vote ) wake the hell up