New refugee camps
Mexico is preparing for mass deportations from the USA with tents
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People flee to the USA via Mexico every day. But Donald Trump doesn’t want them there and is now deporting thousands of migrants. Mexico is expecting the worst.
Men in camouflage clothing set up olive-green tents the size of small houses, with dozens of camp beds next to them waiting to be deployed. Masked soldiers guard the area. In Matamoros in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, the Mexican navy is setting up refugee camps under high pressure, as reporters reported on Thursday (local time). Mexican preparations for mass deportations from the USA and for US President Donald Trump’s tough policy against migrants are in full swing.
The camp in Matamoros, which authorities say can accommodate around 3,000 people, is located in northeastern Mexico directly across from Brownsville, Texas. The Mexican government had announced that it would set up twelve reception centers for migrants expelled from the USA along the 3,100 kilometer long border: nine for Mexican citizens and three for people of other nationalities. The admission program is called “Mexico Hugs You,” as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced.
In his inaugural speech, Trump announced that he would deport “millions and millions” of irregular migrants. The right-wing populist’s policy under the motto “Stay in Mexico” also stipulates that additional soldiers should secure the southern border of the USA and that the right to asylum will be repealed. On Thursday, the White House announced the first deportations of “hundreds of criminal illegal migrants” and that the “largest mass deportation in history” was underway.
Desperation reigns on the border between Mexico and the USA
In many Mexican border towns, those responsible fear that the reception systems will be overloaded. “No community is prepared,” the mayor of Reynosa, Tamaulipas state, Carlos Peña, said this week, adding: “There is not enough space and the situation could become critical.” He called for foreign migrants to be immediately sent further to their countries of origin in order to create more space for Mexican migrants. It is estimated that six million irregular Mexican immigrants live in the USA alone.
Meanwhile, the desperation of migrants who have been waiting in Mexico for asylum in the USA is great. All appointments at immigration offices that had been made through the government app CBP One were canceled and the app was deactivated.
The 48-year-old Colombian Margelis Tinoco is also affected by this measure. She stands with other migrants in the border town of Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico and shows her cell phone with the message that her appointment has been canceled. “May he (Trump) have compassion for us and let us cross the border,” Tinoco pleads through tears. She had been traveling for six months and had suffered a lot. “I don’t know what will happen to my life from now on,” says the woman, completely distraught.
Another young migrant, Enrique Huesca, who had been waiting for his immigration appointment in Ciudad Juárez, resigned. “There’s nothing more we can do,” he tells the AFP news agency as he wraps his three-year-old child in a blanket. He can’t take any more risks, it’s getting too cold for the children. “Now we have to wait four years for this old racist to leave again,” says Huesca, apparently referring to Trump.
Mexico between mass deportations and mass immigration
Many migrants from other Latin American countries are now choosing the next best option: asylum in Mexico. In the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, just a few kilometers from the border with Guatemala, hundreds of people are queuing to apply for asylum in Mexico. Most of them actually wanted to go on to the USA, like Engelber Vázquez from Venezuela. “We are waiting, asking Mexico for asylum and waiting to see what solutions the Trump administration offers us,” said the 42-year-old. Vázquez said he had to leave his country because he was arrested while protesting against the government.
While there is a threat of mass deportations from the USA, more and more migrants from other Latin American countries are arriving in southern Mexico. The country is trying to arm itself as best it can. Part of the “Mexico Hugs You” program will also include an app for Mexicans in the United States to contact Mexican consulates in the United States in the event of raids and to request financial assistance if they are deported.
Mexico wants to “act humanitarian” towards migrants from other countries, President Sheinbaum assured on Tuesday. Mexico has its own immigration policy and will seek to repatriate people who are not Mexican to their countries of origin. Between January and November 2024, Mexico accepted almost 23,000 foreign refugees.
AFP
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Source: Stern

I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.