The US departments of Defense and Homeland Security began working with Arizona and Texas to fulfill President Trump's directive of reinforcing the border. The migrant caravan that prompted the move ended in Mexico City.
Image: picture-alliance/Zumapress/Maj. R. Stillinger
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Hundreds of US National Guard troops will begin deployment to the US-Mexico border in the next few days, in response to President Donald Trump's call for border reinforcements to combat drug trafficking and illegal migration. The US states of Texas and Arizona made the announcement on Friday.
The call to bring military troops to the border followed President Trump's concerns over Easter about a "migrant caravan" that was said to be moving from Central America towards the United States.
The president's tweets on the matter caused tension with Mexico, as Trump blamed the neighboring country for encouraging illegal migration towards the US, while saying that Mexico's immigration laws were stronger than those of the US. The tweets prompted Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to denounce Trump's "threatening or disrespectful attitudes."
State cooperation needed
While Trump's troop deployment proclamation, signed on April 4, directs the use of National Guard troops, federal law still allows Guard members to remain under the command and control of their state's governor.
The Trump administration clarified that the federal government will work in conjunction with border states to carry out the president's order, with the US departments of Homeland Security and Defense in charge on the federal end.
Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey said Friday that about 150 of its National Guard members would be deployed to the border next week, while the Texas National Guard said it was also planning on sending 250 of their Guardsmen there in the next 72 hours as an "initial surge."
The office of Republican Governor of New Mexico, Susana Martinez, said on Friday that it had not yet deployed National Guard resources and the office of Democratic Governor of California, Jerry Brown, did not comment on the matter and has not yet expressed support for the measure.
The caravan of migrants from Central America that prompted Trump's criticism and subsequent border troop deployment was never intended to reach the United States. At its peak, some 1,500 migrants made their way north mostly from Honduras, but also El Salvador, with the help of NGOs like Pueblo Sin Fronteras.
Members of the migrant caravan stage a march in the Mexican city of Oaxaca, to protest US President Donald Trump and Honduran President Juan Orlando HernandezImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Marquez
The migrants were said to be fleeing violence and poverty and would seek asylum, but they also sought to draw attention to the plight of immigrants. The Mexican government had allowed the caravan to pass through its territory by issuing humanitarian permits valid for 20 days.
The caravan began to break up in southern Mexico on April 5 and organizers said the remaining busloads of migrants ended the caravan in Mexico City's Basilica de Guadalupe late Friday night. From there, the migrants will be on their own, though many plan to stay in Mexico, while others will try to seek asylum in the US or attempt to cross the border.
Central American immigrants turn to Mexico
Most migrants to the United States from the so-called "Northern Triangle" of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are staying in Mexico for now — because of Donald Trump's new immigration policies.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
No longer first choice
In a migrant shelter in the southern Mexican city of Tenosique, near the Guatemalan border, a refugee from Honduras says he originally planned to move to the United States with his family. Trump's election has changed everything. "I wanted to go to the United States with my family, but we've seen that the new government there has made things harder."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Lingering in Mexico
Concepcion Bautista from Guatemala cradles her newborn son in the same migrant shelter. She says she plans to head for the United States, but will linger in Mexico to see how US President Donald Trump's immigration policies play out. Her goal is to reunite with her family up north...
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A mere transit country?
…but for the time being, she believes applying for asylum in Mexico is a smarter move. Mexican asylum data and testimony from migrants in Tenosique suggest that although fewer Central Americans are trying to enter the US, plenty are still fleeing their poor, violent home countries, with many deciding to stay longer in Mexico, which has traditionally been a transit country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Tough immigration policies
The Trump administration has pointed out a sharp decline in immigrant detentions in the first few months of this year as a vindication for the president's tough immigration policies. The measures are already having another effect. In California, where farmers usually rely on workers from Mexico to bring in the harvest, many Mexicans are staying away, preferring to find work in their own country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Asylum applications on the rise
Migrants from Central America play football in the migrant shelter in Tenosique. The number of people applying for asylum in Mexico has soared by more than 150 percent since Trump was elected president. These days, Mexican immigrants would rather set up in Canada than the United States.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Human smugglers up the price
One man from Guatemala says the prices charged by people smugglers have risen sharply since Trump took office, now hovering around $10,000 (9,100 euros), up from about $6,000 a few years ago. Migrants sit below a mural in Mexico with the words: "Our demand is minimal: justice."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A new home
With Mexico's immigration authorities controlling migration more assiduously, Central Americans were forced to take more isolated, dangerous routes where the chances of being mugged were higher. "We've gone north several times, but every time it's got harder," says one man, who was deported from the United States in December. "Now, it's better if we travel alone, along new routes."