As tensions between Mexico and the United States heat up over a migrant caravan reportedly seeking to cross the border, families forming part of the group have begun registering with Mexican immigration officials to safeguard their status in the country.
Now setting up base in Matias Romero, a small town in the southern state of Oaxaca, the migrant families are hoping to formalize their stay with permission to work and a transit visa that would allow them to travel in Mexico, including to the northern border with the United States.
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One such family is that of 42-year-old Honduran national, Alexis Espinoza, his wife, and their three young children. They are hoping to get a transit visa from Mexico after leaving Honduras.
But the American dream of this migrant family and others like them has been thrust under the international spotlight after President Donald Trump doubled down on his tough stance against illegal immigration, railing against those making their way from the Guatemala-Mexico border in the past two weeks.
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In response, the Mexican government has said the migrants are being vetted to determine whether they have a right to stay, or would be returned to their countries of origin.
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Espinoza has already had a taste of life in the U.S. He travelled north after Honduras was devastated by a deadly hurricane in 2002 but was eventually deported from the U.S. for failing to formalize his migratory status. He also has family in the United States who has helped fund his trip northward with the caravan. Now, he wants another shot at the American dream for his children.
Honduras ranks amongst the most violent countries in the world and according to the World Bank, more than 60 per cent of the population lives in extreme poverty.
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“The country is very poor. The money that we earn is not enough for food,” Espinoza said. “There is work, you can’t say there is no work but you don’t earn enough to make ends meet, not even for food.”
The caravan of migrants originally numbered around 1,500. Now as families begin to receive their Mexican visas, numbers have reportedly fallen to about 1,000 as they make their own way around the country, some north to the U.S. border.
But those seeking the American dream could see their plans come unstuck. President Trump has vowed to deploy U.S. military forces to the border with Mexico.
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