MEXICO CITY: Mexican soldiers, armed police and migration officials blocked hundreds of migrants after they crossed the border from Guatemala in a caravan into southern Mexico on Wednesday, and detained dozens of them, a witness from a migrant aid group and an official said.
The Mexican response in the border town of Metapa, which included dozens of soldiers, marked a toughening of the government’s efforts to curb the flow of mainly Central American migrants, said Salva Cruz, a coordinator with Fray Matias de Cordova.
“That many sailors and military police, yes, it’s new,” Cruz said, by WhatsApp, from Metapa, in the southern border state of Chiapas, where the vast majority of migrants cross into Mexico. Many are asylum seekers fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The operation in Chiapas coincided with a meeting of Mexican and US officials at the White House on Wednesday to thrash out a deal that would avoid blanket tariffs on Mexico threatened by US President Donald Trump last week.
Trump announced the tariffs in retaliation for what he called Mexico’s failure to stop Central American migrants reaching the US border.
US border officers apprehended more than 132,000 people crossing from Mexico in May, a third more than in April and the highest monthly level since 2006, reaching what US officials said on Wednesday were “crisis” levels.
A National Migration Institute (INM) official in Mexico City who was unauthorized to talk to the media said, on condition of anonymity, that the migrants were being asked to show their status in Mexico.
Migration officials detained 350 to 400 people, the official said, noting that federal police and agents from the National Guard were present. Mexico’s government recently created a militarized police force called the National Guard made up of soldiers and federal police.
It was not immediately possible to verify how many migrants crossed into Mexico.
On Wednesday afternoon in Mexico City, police detained Irineo Mujica, director of the US-Mexico migrant aid group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, and Cristobal Sanchez, a migrant rights activist, according to Alex Mensing, a coordinator with the group.
Pueblo Sin Fronteras has for several years guided annual caravans through Mexico, seeking to protect migrants and to advocate for their rights along a 2,000-mile trail ridden with criminals and corrupt officials who prey on lone travelers through kidnapping, extortion and other forms of assault.
Since April 2018, Trump has lashed out at the caravans of Central Americans wending their way to the United States, while blaming Mexico for failing to stop their movement to the US border.
Mexico meets migrants at southern border with armed forces
Mexico meets migrants at southern border with armed forces
- Migration officials detained 350 to 400 people, the official said, noting that federal police and agents from the National Guard were present
Czech Prime Minister Babiš faces confidence vote as government shifts Ukraine policy
- “I’d like to make it clear that the Czech Republic and Czech citizens will be first for our government,” Babiš said
- Babiš has rejected any financial aid for Ukraine and guarantees for EU loans
PRAGUE: The Czech Republic’s new government led by populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was set to face a mandatory confidence vote in Parliament over its agenda aimed at steering the country away from supporting Ukraine and rejecting some key European Union policies.
The debate in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament, where the coalition has a majority of 108 seats, began Tuesday. Every new administration must win the vote to govern.
Babiš, previously prime minister in two governments from 2017-2021, and his ANO, or YES, movement, won big in the country’s October election and formed a majority coalition with two small political groups, the Freedom and Direct Democracy anti-migrant party and the right-wing Motorists for Themselves.
The parties, which share admiration for US President Donald Trump, created a 16-member Cabinet.
“I’d like to make it clear that the Czech Republic and Czech citizens will be first for our government,” Babiš said in his speech in the lower house.
The political comeback by Babiš and his new alliance with two small government newcomers are expected to significantly redefine the nation’s foreign and domestic policies.
Unlike the previous pro-Western government, Babiš has rejected any financial aid for Ukraine and guarantees for EU loans to the country fighting the Russian invasion, joining the ranks of Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia.
But his government would not abandon a Czech initiative that managed to acquire some 1.8 million much-needed artillery shells for Ukraine only last year on markets outside the EU on condition the Czechs would only administer it but would not contribute money.
The Freedom party sees no future for the Czechs in the EU and NATO, and wants to expel most of 380,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country.
The Motorists, who are in charge of the environment and foreign ministries, rejected the EU Green Deal and proposed revivals of the coal industry.
