A ’sanctuary’ for immigrants in Mexico
Héctor Tobar


Officer Patricio Salgado Garcia watches over an empty safe house that was built for the many Central American migrants who pass through Ecatepec, a Mexico City suburb. The mayor has declared the city to be migrant friendly and has ordered police and city officials not to cooperate with Mexican immigration authorities.

The mayor of Ecatepec says those on their way north illegally are safe and welcome in his city.


ECATEPEC, MEXICO — Jose Luis Gutierrez is the mayor of the biggest city in Mexico you’ve never heard of, a sprawling suburb of Mexico City built by people on the move.

And the charismatic Gutierrez has done something almost as unheard of: He has declared this city of as many as 3 million people a “sanctuaryâ€