Now Mexico wants to build a border wall with Central America to keep out illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala


It seems Mexico agrees with Donald Trump’s plans to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants – but only on its southern border with Central America.

Article by Hannah Parry

Mexicans are calling for the border wall to keep out Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans fleeing violence in their own countries.

They complain ‘hordes’ of immigrants pass through on their way to the United States -who are then simply deported back to Mexico rather than their home countries by the US.

Central American migrants are left stuck in border cities with Mexican officials unable to afford to send them back to their own countries, according to an article by one of the largest newspapers in the border state of Tamaulipas, El Mañana, titled: ‘Yes to the Border Wall … but in Mexico’s South.’

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Mexicans are calling for the border wall to keep out Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans fleeing violence in their own countries (Immigrants from Central America await transport from the U.S. Border Patrol on August 17, 2016 in Roma, Texas)

The real estate mogul sparked international outrage last year when he unveiled his idea for a giant wall on the US border with Mexico – which he claimed Mexico would pay for.

But while Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has mocked Trump’s plans, many Mexicans praised the concept of a border wall.

‘Trump’s idea of a border wall is a good one but it should be on the southern border with Central America in order to stop the flow of Central Americans from entering both countries,’ the El Mañana board wrote in July.

The paper also called for proper immigration checkpoints on the southern border.

El Mañana even criticized Hillary Clinton for failing to raise the issue of border security.

The newspaper says that many illegal immigrants turn to crime as shelters can often only provide a few days of food and bedding.

‘Many of these migrants when they are unable to find an honest way of life turn to robberies, kidnappings, extortion, and in the worst cases join the ranks of organized crime,’ El Mañana’s piece claimed.

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A Mexican newspaper complains of ‘hordes’ of immigrants passing through on their way to the United States – who are then simply deported back to Mexico rather than their home countries by the US

The UN estimates 400,000 Central Americans cross illegally into Mexico each year.

 

The UN estimates 400,000 Central Americans cross illegally into Mexico each year.

As many as half are fleeing violence and gangs in their home countries yet most immigrants are eventually deported back home. Mexico deported 175,000 Central Americans last year – a 68 per cent increase from 2014.

That was the same year that the Central American refugee crisis hit headlines when thousands of migrant children arrived without their families at the US border.

The US has sent $75million for equipment and training to Mexico to help with the crackdown on immigrants, according to the Times.

One Honduran migrant, Rosa – whose husband, mother, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews were murdered in her homeland – fled with her two teenage sons earlier this year, Financial Times reports.

‘Mexico has become a wall for migrants,’ said Sister Magdalena Silva, co-ordinator of Cafemin- a privately run shelter for refugees in Mexico City. ‘The current policy is to arrest migrants to stop them from getting to the US border.’

Mexicans agree with Donald Trump’s concept of a border wall to keep out immigrants – but want it in the south of their country

She left Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, with her teenage sons in January 2016 after gangs tried to recruit her 14-year-old.

‘We know when a gang targets someone, they don’t leave them alone and they follow through on their threats,’ she said.

Rosa and her sons turned themselves over to authorities when they arrived in Mexico and were channeled into asylum procedures.

The family were shipped to a detention center in Mexico City where they were held in custody, in separate cell blocks for three months, before receiving the devastating news that their application for for asylum had been turned down.

Eventually they were allowed out of the detention center and sent to a refugee center.

But after their application was rejected, and her sons witnessed a woman lying in her own blood just a few blocks from the center, she decided to go north to the US.

The family turned themselves in once again a the US border to ask for asylum and Rosa and the 14-year-old have been released to live with a family in Baltimore to await the decision. Her 19-year-old son is still in detention.

Read more at: dailymail.co.uk



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