Tear gas and work visas at U.S.-Mexican border
Arrests, tear gas and deportation! That's how the story ended over the weekend for dozens of Honduran migrants. Last week, thousands of migrants arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, after trekking for over 3,500 kilometers, from Central America.
Rejecting Mexico's offer of asylum, some of them decided to make a run for the U.S. border in a hope of a better future.
But they never got across. At the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego, a skirmish line of helmeted Mexican police with body armor and shields blocked them on the Mexican side. On the other side – U.S. border patrol officers fired tear gas to fend them off.
That they were unwanted couldn't have been clearer. If walls of Mexican federal police and U.S. border guards didn't get that message across, another Donald Trump tweet helped make it explicit.
On Monday, the U.S president threatened to close the U.S. border for migrants, "permanently."
"Mexico should move the flag waving migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries," he wrote. Trump said he didn't care how Mexico does it: "Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!"
Thousands of migrants remain stranded in nearby Tijuana — overwhelming the city's social services.
For most, returning home is an option of last resort. Staying in Mexico appears to be a second-to-last resort — despite Mexico's offer of political asylum and temporary work visas.
Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, better known in Mexico by his initials, AMLO, takes office on December 1. Back in October, he said he would offer Central American migrants temporary work permit visas if they choose to stay.
Most have rejected the offer.
"I left my country with a dream of reaching the U.S., not to stay in Mexico," said Wilmer Romero, a migrant from Honduras told CGTN, adding that he is too close to his goal to give up now.
But some may be considering staying back. Darwin Pereyra, who is accompanied by his wife and two young daughters, said he wants a job — wherever he can find one. "Over there, or here, it doesn't matter. The important thing is to work," he said.
Though Mexico's temporary work visa is no guarantee of a job, non-governmental organizations in Tijuana are helping the migrants find work.
"The doors have been opened to people in this exodus, who can apply and enter legally through work," said Leoni Romero, part of a Roman Catholic charitable group. She was at the caravan camp, taking names of interested migrants.
"We are arranging buses to take them to an employment fair," she said, adding that if they manage to find work "they can get their papers through a company, get a job and join Mexican society."
"I don't think the policy is a good idea because there is already too much unemployment in Mexico," said Alma Navarro, a professor of politics and economics at the University of Baja California in Tijuana.
Navarro expects the incoming administration to face significant opposition on the policy.
"The question the administration will face from the public is why they are helping foreigners over the local population?"
