(c) Reuters. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
By Jose Cortes and Lizbeth Diaz
JUCHITAN, Mexico, Mexico (Reuters) -Several hundred migrants in southern Mexico on Monday awaited buses north as part of a new government program meant to help manage the number of people arriving. Mexico’s president said 10,000 people were reaching the U.S. border daily. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
By Jose Cortes and Lizbeth Diaz
JUCHITAN, Mexico, Mexico (Reuters) -Several hundred migrants in southern Mexico on Monday awaited buses north in a new government program meant to help manage the number of people arriving, as Mexico’s president said 10,000 people have been reaching the U.S. border daily.
Thousands of migrants have crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in recent weeks, alarming officials in U.S. border cities and prompting delays to trade.
In the northern city of Tijuana on Monday, opposite San Diego, California, several dozen people scrambled over a part of the U.S. border wall that cuts across the beach at the Pacific Ocean in a video seen by Reuters. In a video seen by Reuters, several dozen people scrambled over a part of the U.S. border wall that cuts across the beach at the Pacific Ocean in the northern city of Tijuana on Monday. “Let’s just wait for the appointment because we have suffered so much to get here,” said Victor Salma from Venezuela. Salma, along with 400 others, including families and children, were waiting for buses to Mexico City or the state capital. Jesus Gonzalez, a local civil protection agent, told reporters that 800 to 1,000 migrants use the Juchitan site every day.
Migrants must pay their own fares, ranging from 386 to 1,500 pesos (about $22-$85), and some people said they were awaiting money transfers from relatives, or seeking work, to raise funds.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at his morning news conference on Monday said about 6,000 people are entering southern Mexico daily, and that last week 10,000 migrants reached the U.S.-Mexico border every day.
In September, the number of migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border was on pace to approach, or surpass, previous monthly highs.
Lopez Obrador urged countries to tackle the root causes of migration, and expressed regret over the death of 10 Cuban immigrants in a traffic crash in southern Mexico Sunday. Last week, at the border of Ciudad Juarez in Texas, a man crawled under coils barbed wire while a small boy followed, crying “Papa, papa.” According to four videos seen by Reuters of the incident, an armed Texas National Guard man stepped into the path of the man and yelled “I haven’t mercy, animals.” Why did you send the baby? Why did you send the boy? Why did you send a boy? Customs and Border Protection did not respond immediately to a comment request about the people who were seen climbing over border wall between Tijuana and San Diego.