Biden Rush Continues—What Will Mexico Do?
Though the Biden Rush continues despite the President’s exhortations that “migrants” stay home [Biden tells migrants ‘don't come over’ amid surge at the border, by Brett Samuels, The Hill, March 16, 2021] Mexico, significantly, is trying to stanch the hemorrhage of Central Americans into its territory. The Biden Regime is reportedly pushing those efforts behind the scenes and sending the China Virus vaccine in exchange [U.S. to Send Millions of Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada, by Natalie Kitroeff, et al., The New York Times, March 18 2021].
On March 19, Mexico announced it would only allow essential traffic through its borders with Guatemala and Belize, and Milenio reported that security forces had arrived at Chiapas State on the border with Guatemala:
[S]ecurity elements were deployed on the southern border of Mexico after the foreign ministry announced that the border with Guatemala would be closed to nonessential traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Elements of the National Guard, the National Institute of Migration, the Navy and Defense Department arrived to Tuxtla Gutierrez to deploy.
[Llegan elementos del Ejército y la Guardia Nacional a Chiapas por cierre de frontera sur (“Elements of the Army and National Guard Arrive to Chiapas to Close the Southern Border”), by Abraham Jimenez, March 19, 2021].
“In the last few weeks we have identified an increase in the passage of minors migrating through Mexican territory,” said INM Chief Francisco Garduno as the operation kicked off.
La Prensa Libre of Guatemala offered the same take as the New York Times:
The closing of the land borders to nonessential traffic … to be in effect until April 21 is seen by analysts as a response to the delivery of 2.5 million doses of the anti-COVID-19 vaccines that the U.S. agreed to give to Mexico as a ‘loan,’ which were coincidentally announced the same day.
[¿Migración o covid-19? Por qué México cerró su frontera con Guatemala (“Migration or COVID-19? Why Mexico Closed its Border with Guatemala”), by Sergio Morales Rodas, March 19, 2021]
— Oscar Lopez (@SomosElOjo) March 21, 2021
But La Prensa Libre’s Morales Rodas also quotes Guatemalan analyst Jorge Wong, who said that Mexico has an obvious interest in “avoiding contagions” brought by Central American illegals.
Mexico Still Detaining Central American Illegals—Including “Minors”!
The same day Mexico announced the border closing, Mexican national guardsmen stopped three trucks in Chiapas that carried 329 Central American illegals.
From Milenio:
Elements of the National Guard and the National Institute of Migration detained 329 migrants who were traveling in three trucks in overcrowded conditions. One hundred and nineteen were minors, and only five were traveling with a relative. ... [T]hey were from Guatemala and Honduras. … [T]he drivers of the vehicles were turned in by authorities for the possible crime of human trafficking.
[En Chiapas, Guardia Nacional encuentra 329 migrantes hacinados en camiones (“In Chiapas, National Guard Discovers 329 Migrants Crowded in Trucks”), by Francisco Mejia, March 19, 2021]
Of course, as data from our border with Mexico show, way too many illegals are getting through. But every illegal caught in Mexico, as I’ve written before, is one that’s not crossing the U.S. border.
Milenio’s Mejia also reported that police detained 84 illegals, including 15 unaccompanied minors and 42 with “families,” in central Mexico’s state of Hidalgo.
A Mexican non-governmental organization called REDODEM [Tweet them] doesn’t want them deported until the government determines whether they were crime victims and/or refugees. Mexicans have these pests too! [ONG piden proteger migrantes menores de edad detenidos en Hidalgo (“NGO Requests Protection of Minor Migrants Detained in Hidalgo”), by Francisco Mejia, March 19, 2021].
#regional 🧐 La REDODEM exigió protección y garantice sus derechos humanos a los menores de edad migrantes asegurados en Tecozautla ⤵https://t.co/ymeLPkwhAk
— El Sol de Hidalgo (@ElSoldeHgo) March 21, 2021
Central American Illegals Arriving By Air …
Illegals aren’t just traveling by truck or on foot these days, either, Mexico’s immigration agency reported:
On the afternoon of March 19, 2021, federal agents of the National Institute of Migration … identified 95 migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba and Guatemala who arrived at the international airport of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon and could not prove their legal status.
[Identifica INM a 95 personas irregulares en dos vuelos que arribaron al Aeropuerto Internacional de Monterrey (“INM Identifies 95 Irregular Persons in Two Flights who Arrived to Monterrey International Airport”), Gob.mx, March 20, 2021]
Seventy Hondurans, 14 Guatemalans, six Salvadorans, and five Cubans “traveled as tourists in two commercial flights” from Villahermosa in Tabasco state and Cancun in Quintana Roo.
Eight were unaccompanied minors, and 72 were in “families.” Authorities took 15 single adults to be deported.
My Solution For The Guatemalan Consulate Crisis
Prensa Libre recently belly-ached about the need for more employees at Guatemalan consulates in the United States. The problem, it seems, is that so many Guatemalans are here instead of in Guatemala that the consulates are overwhelmed:
Alta demanda es aprovechada en algunos consulados por personas no autorizadas que venden servicios, una práctica ilegal. https://t.co/flcg8vEvuc
— Prensa Libre (@prensa_libre) March 20, 2021
The insufficient resources that the foreign ministry receives for consulates makes it impossible to offer its best, which has deteriorated even more with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.
[300 trabajadores para atender a 3 millones de guatemaltecos: consulados en EE. UU. están desbordados (“300 Workers to Attend to 3 Million Guatemalans: Consulates in the United States Overwhelmed”), by Sergio Morales Rodas, March 20, 2021]
Mexico has 50 consulates here, and Guatemala 23. Five states have more than one. Here is a list of U.S. cities with Guatemalan consulates:
The Prensa Libre complained that 300 employees cannot serve 3 million Guatemalans.
A big demand is Guatemalan passports. In California, for instance, a Guatemalan, including an illegal, can use his passport to get a driver’s license. And now, with Biden in office, demand has gone up because of an anticipated Amnesty and easy path to asylum.
The wait for a passport is too long, and the put-upon Guatemalan might have to travel too far to find another consulate. That’s not good, a Guatemalan official explained, because “the people have much fear ... of being detained.”
Why would that be?
Here’s my solution: Guatemala can bring its wayward sons and daughters home and give them passports in the fatherland where they belong!
Pictured below: Guatemala City
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008 after many years residing in Mexico. Allan's wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.
