On Wednesday (20), thousands of immigrants in southern Mexico set out on a journey in an attempt to reach the United States border before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, seeking to escape possible immigration control measures.
The caravan, which left just after 5 am local time, was made up of immigrants from Central and South America. They walked from Tapachula to the city of Huehuetán, a journey of more than 25 kilometers.
Immigrants hope the scheduling system for asylum applications through the Asylum Claims Program will continue to operate in the coming weeks. They also appealed to the Mexican government to allow them free movement around the country, facilitating their arrival in the United States.
In October 2020, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched a mobile app called CBP One so that travelers could access certain agency functions on mobile devices. Over the past two years, the agency has expanded the uses of CBP One. The app has become the only way for immigrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum at a point of entry to pre-schedule processing interviews and maintain their guaranteed eligibility for asylum.
CBP One has also become the only way for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans seeking travel authorization to obtain temporary stay authorization through special programs for these nationalities to submit their biometric information to CBP.
In recent years, several caravans of people trying to enter the United States have attempted to reach the U.S.-Mexico border, traveling in large groups for greater safety. Most of them dispersed along the way.
The caravan’s organizer, Bryan Velazquez, an immigrant from Guatemala, told Reuters that he fears that appointments via the app will be closed after the change of government.
This content was originally published in Immigrants leave Mexico towards the US border before Trump’s inauguration on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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