@ChiapasParalelo
On January 7th, National Migration Institute (INM) agents in the city of Tapachula reported that they had temporarily suspended their service for receiving documents from migrants, due to the lack of secure conditions.
For several months, thousands of Central American, Cuban and Haitian migrants have remained on the southern border of Chiapas with the purpose of processing humanitarian visas, a process for which the applicant must wait more than six months to start the procedures, due to the restrictions over the pandemic.
On January 4th, the INM resumed its service, and this January 7, around a thousand migrants began to queue outside the administrative offices of the Institution. When it opened, some people tried to skip the line causing an outbreak of violence that was stopped by the presence of members of the National Guard and state police. This led to the temporary suspension of the INM’s service.
In 2020, there were 41,329 refugee requests and more than double that is expected in 2021 due to the situation caused by the coronavirus. During the month of December, the number of migrants from Central America, Haiti and Cuba, who entered through the southern border, increased, at a time when the migratory flow usually stops.
For more information in Spanish:
Migrantes se confrontan por espacios para tramitar visas humanitarias (ChiapasParalelo, 7 de enero de 2020)
INM suspende trámites a migrantes porque no hay condiciones de seguridad (Noticias de Chiapas, 8 de enero de 2020)
En 2020, se recibieron 41,329 solicitudes de refugio y se espera más del doble en este año (La Jornada, 3 de enero de 2020)
Alertan de aumento en migración en Chiapas (Heraldo de México, 14 de diciembre de 2020)
For more information from SIPAZ:
sipazen.wordpress.com 