About 500 migrants marched through southern Mexico from Tapachula on Wednesday, protesting what they described as long waits for paperwork and pressing for authorization to move to places with better employment prospects while their immigration status is processed, the Associated Press reported.
The group, including Cubans among those traveling, left Tapachula on Tuesday night near the Guatemala border. They said the protest was aimed at speeding their ability to obtain the documents they need to work as they pass through Mexico.
Tapachula, long a hub for transient populations, has seen more people arriving in recent months, including third-country nationals, particularly Cubans deported by the Trump administration, AP said. The report said the Mexican government had not yet released official figures for those arrivals.
Migrants in the march also described restrictions in Tapachula as a barrier to work, saying that without papers they have few opportunities. Joandri Velázquez Zaragoza, a 40-year-old Cuban national, said in a quote carried by AP that “Without papers, there are no opportunities. We migrants feel like prisoners in Tapachula,” as he supported a wife and two children back home amid what AP described as worsening conditions that include power outages and food shortages.
Velázquez Zaragoza, an evangelical pastor who also works as a mason, arrived in Tapachula in August 2024, according to AP. He said he originally sought an asylum appointment in the United States through the CBP One mobile app but was unsuccessful, and after the program was terminated with the return of the Trump administration, he filed for asylum in Mexico; AP reported that his application and subsequent appeal were rejected.
AP said the march took place under the observation of Mexico’s National Guard, the National Migration Institute, and local police, and none attempted to stop the group. On the day the march began, the Mexican government announced a new agreement meant to boost labor inclusion for people in transit across southern states including Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco and Quintana Roo.
Separate from the government’s announcement, the Southern Border Monitoring Collective, a coalition of civil society groups, warned this week that migrants in transit were paying up to 40,000 Mexican pesos (about $2,300) for documentation that the coalition said is legally free. The collective also said the militarization of Mexico’s southern border and the Northern Triangle has increased risks and abuses facing migrants, AP reported.
The AP report also described a separate incident in Veracruz on Monday, when Mexican authorities discovered 229 migrants trapped inside a truck. The vehicle had been towed to a police impound lot after a stolen-vehicle report, officers only realized migrants were inside when the people began shouting for help.
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