Police stop caravan from entering Chiapas town over security concerns

February 23, 2019

Migrants head for Huixtla, where they had to make a detour.

The migrant caravan that was turned away from Tapachula, Chiapas, on Wednesday has once again found its way barred.

Municipal police in nearby Huixtla prevented migrants from entering the town yesterday, citing security concerns for residents. The town has typically been a stopping point on migrant caravans’ long journey north, but the latest was forced to go around.

The nearly 1,000 Central American migrants have met a few obstacles since they crossed the border into Mexico on Tuesday. Federal authorities attempted to detain them after they entered illegally on the Rodolfo Robles International Bridge, but retreated when the group responded by throwing rocks.

The next day, the group was denied entry into the city of Tapachula over concern for the caravan’s safety after the killing of two police officers, presumably at the hands of the Mara Salvatrucha gang.

Federal authorities again attempted to halt the migrants’ progress, this time on the Tapachula-Huixtla highway but desisted when the group again began to defend itself with makeshift weapons. Twenty migrants were detained.

According to the newspaper Reforma, the solidarity that has long been shown Central American migrants in Mexico’s southernmost state has evaporated, and residents have grown more suspicious of the groups.

Some claim that the recent waves of migration have been a significant factor in an uptick in crime in the region.