Over 1,500 Cameroonians stranded in Mexico in desperate quest to enter USA

Over 1,500 Cameroonians have been protesting in front of Mexico’s emigration office in the North of the town of Tapachualla Chiapas. The protest which began Monday August 19, 2019 entered second week today, as Mexican officials are yet to address the plight if the protesters.
The migrants are demanding access into the United States of America to seek asylum.

Some of the striking Cameroonians in Mexico say Mexican emigration officials are asking them to seek asylum in Mexico instead of “crossing the border to the United States.”
To Mexico, the decision is to save the country from high tariffs imposed on Mexican products by the government of Donald Trump as a punishment for letting migrants cross the border and get into the United States.

Determined to fulfil their American dream, Cameroonian migrants made up of men and women and thousands of others from African countries like Ghana, Angola, Togo, Somalia, Congo and Guinea Bissau since August 19 have been protesting with placards calling on Mexican authorities to permit them get to their destination.

As these African migrants struggle each day to get to USA, they have been facing issues of accommodation, feeding, health and inadequate financial resources.

“We want the Mexican officials to free us, we want to be allowed to continue our journey to the US, we cannot stay here, cost of living is high, we can barely understand the language. When we go to banks to collect money from relatives, because we need that to survive, we are asked to provide alot of documents that we donot have…” one of them said.

Questioned if the migrants will prefer to return to their respective African countries, our informant said they are determined to get to their destination “at all cost and will continue pressurizing Mexico to ensure their dreams are realized.”

He continued that the perilous journey takes three weeks and even more. They go through Equador, through the desert to Panama and then to Mexico with the hope of having access into the US. “Many of our brothers end up dying on the way and are burried in the desert…it is a very daring venture..,” the source who opted for anonymity added.

Paradoxically, the situation has not deterred other Africans as hundreds of migrants continue to arrive Mexico each day looking for an opportunity to enter USA.

New migration route

In early July, Mexico’s authorities reported that the number of African migrants in the country had tripled. According to government figures, around 1,900 migrants, most of them from crisis-ridden countries like Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are now in Mexico.

Their final destination, being the United States of America. The journey by plane of some of these migrants began halfway across the world in Uganda, Eritrea. Smugglers, reports say are making brisk business.

Mimi Mefo Info

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