Another Migrant Caravan, But Not to the US

This article by Edgar H. Clemente appeared in the August 7, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Tapachula, Chiapas. A new caravan of 300 migrants left the southern border yesterday morning in search of reaching other cities in Mexico where they can find employment and continue their process of acquiring legal residency.

Most of them have been trying to obtain their documents for months from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) and the National Migration Institute (INM), but their requests are denied.

“They’re denying us papers, more than anything; from COMAR they send us to Immigration and vice versa, they just tell us to go back home,” said Honduran Angy Madrid.

The woman is traveling with her six-year-old daughter and says she’s been looking for work for months, but can’t find one. The few times she’s found one, it’s been with low wages and work days of more than 10 hours. “I want to get to Monterrey, look for work, and wait for my papers to come through so I can be legal,” she added.

Juan Ríos, from Nicaragua, stated that the migrants themselves organized themselves through WhatsApp groups to leave as a group, due to their discontent with immigration authorities.

He explained that despite the arrest of Luis García Villagrán, coordinator of the Center for Human Dignity, who was supposed to accompany them, the undocumented immigrants decided to set out, albeit with fewer members than expected. Whether he was there or not, we were going to leave because we didn’t want any more injustice, he emphasized.

Catholic priest Heyman Vázquez Medina led a prayer before the caravan departed. During his remarks, he condemned the abuses perpetrated against this population by the authorities and demanded respect for human rights.

Most of these people were stranded in southern Mexico following the tightening of immigration policies by US President Donald Trump.

Group Concerned About Arrest of García Villagrán

In this context, civil society organizations that make up the Southern Border Monitoring collective expressed their concern about the pattern of criminalization against those who defend and accompany migrants.

This follows the arrest of Luis García Villagrán, coordinator of the Center for Human Dignity, who allegedly led the new caravan that left Tapachula yesterday. They demanded that he be guaranteed due process and his safety. They pointed out that these criminalizations are part of the intensification of anti-immigrant policies around the world.