Rolando Herrera / Reform Agency
Saturday, May 13, 2023 | 19:29
Mexico City.- Without giving details, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported that part of his visit to Matamoros will be to analyze the issue of migrants at the border.
Upon arriving at the customs facilities at the Ignacio Zaragoza Border Bridge, known as ‘Los Tomates’, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, the president responded to a couple of questions raised by reporters.
– President, what is your opinion on the immigration issue?, he was asked.
– “That’s why I come, we come to talk about it. Now, we come to see that,” he replied.
– Is it said that there are more than seven thousand migrants?, he was insisted.
“You have to be careful, everyone,” he said.
Title 42, which allowed the United States to expel migrants for health reasons, came to an end yesterday and, in its place, Title 8 will now apply, which implies tougher measures for those who cross the border irregularly.
This change in immigration policy has generated confusion among migrants of different nationalities seeking asylum in that country and who are congregated on the Mexican side.
In addition, Mexico has agreed to receive up to a thousand rejected migrants per day, which is generating pressure in different border cities.
Guarded by elements of the Army and the Navy, who from early hours deployed a surveillance device in the vicinity of the customs compound, the man from Tabasco arrived around 4:00 p.m. and before entering he greeted the people who were waiting for his arrival.
“He greeted all the people who were there, there are even people who gave him requests, they all received them very well,” said Jazmín Morales, a member of the Independent National Union of Industries and Services Workers (SNITIS).
Among the requests that the president received is that of a group of workers from the company Componentes Industriales, which manufactures ballasts for lighting fixtures, which has closed since March and has not paid off its employees.
“We have already been on strike for more than a month, since March 22, when we came to work and a piece of paper was posted, simply where it said that it was open until further notice, that it was going to be paid that day and that’s it.
“We are requesting your help because we have not had the attention or the state or municipal support, authorities from Victoria have come, but everything remains in talks,” said Alicia Garza.
López Obrador will supervise this weekend the work to modernize the border customs, tomorrow he will be in Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, where the new offices of the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) are being built.
