Mexico Moves to Encourage Caravan Migrants to Stay and Work

Mexico appears to have a rational leader who is able to see beyond the next news cycle: "To address the root causes of migration, Mr. López Obrador has vowed to promote job creation in southern Mexico and Central America, and has been pushing a $30 billion regional development plan. He has also ordered tax cuts in dozens of municipalities along the northern border to spur economic development and job creation." Here's hoping the USA elects someone rational and far-sighted in 2020. What we need along the southern border is a wall of ideas, not a physical barrier.

Ms. López said that she had followed the news about the caravans that arrived in northern Mexico in the fall and knew they had “suffered a lot.” But she also wondered how Mexico was going to support so many new arrivals from Central America. “What is this country going to do with so many people?” she asked. I wonder why no one ever wonders this about the U.S.? Are we supposed to be to accept and welcome all comers? Why are we expected "support so many new arrivals" not just from Central America, but from everywhere?

This article shows the true difference between Mexico and the U.S. We moved to Mexico because of the direction the states were going. This only confirms are decision was correct. It saddens me to hear and read people talking so unfairly about the Mexican people. They truly don't know them and have no idea what wonderful values the majority of the population has.

I have compassion but this and numerous NYT and wash post demonstrate time and again that this is primarily economic migration I am a died in the wool Democrat, loathe Trump’s racism, but this abuse of “asylum” claims is despicable. Spend the money helping build viable economies in central america

For the past century the US has only looked at what it can take from Central America and how it’s companies can benefit. You reap what you sow. President Obrador is looking to develop Southern Mexico, the US can be a partner to this and halt the migrant caravans before they start. Or it can continue the same policies and free trade agreements that created this crisis in the first place.

Finally someone recognizes the migrants as a resource rather than a burden. If they stay in Mexico they will make Mexico more prosperous instead of making us more prosperous, we will continue to get older and less productive.

"The new Mexican president’s generosity toward immigrants, officials say, dovetails with his broader commitment to protect human rights, reduce inequality and prioritize the poor." If President Lopez Obrador keeps this sort of thing up, we'll definitely need a wall...to prevent people from the US from crossing over into Mexico.

Migrants don’t fool yourselves. The US is a great place to live if you have money. If you don’t have money, it is NOT a great place to live. Housing and food are expensive. Medical care is hard to get if you are poor. The US does not have national health care insurance. There are many homeless people, particularly in California and border areas. They sleep outside in wooded areas or on city streets and alleys. There was a recent outbreak of Hepatitis A in California caused by people defecating on the streets. If you do not speak English, it is even worse. You can not work legally without a social security number and a green card. If you are hired without documentation you will be exploited by your employer. You will be constantly looking over your shoulder for anyone who will turn you into authorities for being undocumented. If you do manage to blend into society, years and years later you can be deported.

If they keep getting rides on trains and trucks, the caravan should reach the U.S. within the next 21 days. Let’s hope. The optics of thousands of people being kept out by a wall, or simply walking across an unprotected border, will help shape the border security debate in Congress. As well it should.

So thanks to Mexico they going to use their open borders to get smuggled back in here based on ones they spoke to who had been Deported from last year for Violent criminal offenses..These ones are saying pretty much the same their plan to get here which means they don't need asylum or they'd take Mexico asylum..They said they were coming to go to the US so they just want get in here which is so wrong to those truly needing asylum ! They been Jumping in the hundreds here ! I never seen so many Jumping in making resources run out and homeless Citizens with no help cause they keep Jumping in ! Hundreds overwhelming resources ! See this shows Mexico offering them all they need but, they seem determined to use this Country and tax payers .I am sicken by all the ones that were Deported for Major Violent crimes are back ! They have no respect for our laws . People who won't fight for their own Country are not going to respect another person Country and they are proving that by getting denied and Deported and coming back to snow in . Mexico is now causing us problems by not checking these people and not stopping Violent criminals from passing . People Deported should not be allowed in Mexico to get back .You noticed they not saying they need asylum they are now using they can get through Mexico to us ! This is a mess that only by changing asylum laws and Immigration they won't stop .Stop catch and release ! Make a number of asylum people that once it gets to that's it for year .

Just enforce the existing laws and actually make companies who hire illegals like farms, hotels, and construction pay steep fines, and you will see how quickly it will solve the problem. Of course, nothing is enforced as many influential people take advantage of the situation making higher profits. I am ready to pay higher taxes if needed to address the problem with construction cost, for example. If you like paying less for housing and less local taxes because of the cheap labor provided by illegals, then don't complain about illegal immigration.

Mexico is a middle-income country that indeed does have a labor shortage. It's perfectly natural for Central American migrants and refugees to want to stay there, in a country with a shared language and a common colonial history. It is unrealistic and unnecessary for all of the world's or continent's refugees to resettle in the United States.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants who know they do not meet the criteria for asylum cross the U.S. border illegally and then apply for asylum because they expect to be allowed to reside in the United States until the date of court hearings, which are set in the distance future. This is what has created the immigration court backlog. Yesterday, the United States began returning asylum seekers who crossed its southern border illegally to Mexico in accordance with a new agreement struck with Mexico in December. This agreement permits the United States to return asylum seekers who cross the U.S. border illegally to Mexico, even if they apply for asylum after crossing the border. It is similar to the United States’ long-standing agreement with Canada. And it is compliant with international asylum protocols as well as U.S. asylum law. As illegal border crossers realize they will not be allowed to remain in the United States while their asylum applications are being processed, the migrant caravans will stop coming, the number of illegal border crossers will plummet, and the immigration court backlog will gradually disappear.

I have lived in Mexico and many Mexicans are without work. Letting more immigrants from the south only increases the pool of labor that will work for less. Is this a good thing? Does this sound familiar? Driving through Mexico, you can see that it is rich with natural resources. There is no difference between Brownsville and Matamoros, there's a line, a river, and yet they couldn't look or be more different. There is a massive culture of corruption in Mexico and all these Central American countries right up the highest level of government. Last week at the El Chapo trial, testimony revealed that the previous president accepted over 100 million in bribes. So, if the government is offering work visas there must be a benefit and that would be eroding already poor wages for Mexicans, just as Mexicans erode wages here. The illegal immigration problem would go away if we arrested the people who hire anyone without documents. Why is e-verify not the law of the land? This is not unique to America, on a cab ride to immigration in Bangkok last week, the cab driver complained about all the Burmese, Cambodians and Laotions, living illegally and taking good Thai jobs. In Myanmar, they say the same thing about Rohingya coming from Bangladesh. In Kenya, they say they didn't get any jobs on the Chinese built railroad. There is money to be made by keeping people poor and fearful. Just ask any of the current crop of political 'leaders' and presidents.

Mexico has a generous social safety net. It is known by the acronym USA. It has proven very effective. They export their poor, illiterate and unskilled. Thus far, we have about 8 million of their citizens. Historically, their largess has also included offering a similar service to their southern neighbors by expediting the travel of illegals to our border. It will be a welcome change if Mexico steps up and offers them residence and aid..

We'll see what actually happens. If they actually stay in Mexico (or if they return home), great. But it they try to come here, then they need to be stopped. Fleeing poverty is not grounds for asylum. Seeking work is not grounds for asylum. If Mexico want to let them into Mexico on those grounds, with legal "status" in Mexico, that is Mexico's prerogative. But the USA need not do the same. Meanwhile, the USA needs to keep an eye on the situation, and nobody in the USA ought to swallow news stories and Mexican government pronouncements as fact. The only thing that counts is what actually happens. So, we will see.

Am I naive in wondering why - instead of using Mexico as a staging post to enter the US, possibly illegally - these central Americans don't remain in the country that has so generously helped them and try to contribute to its growth and prosperity? Or, is Mexico no better than the violent and hopeless home nations that you have turned your back on? This reminds me of the European migrant 'caravan' - the members of which turn up their noses at asylum in France or Italy and insist on getting to the UK, whatever the cost. I'm frequently accused of being a bleeding heart liberal progressive. On this, I'm not.

Dear Mexico, It's very neighborly of you to offer us asylum and jobs. But remember, you're our second-choice Joyce. No offense, but our real goal is to get into the United States. In the meantime, please provide us support and housing until we can get across the northern border. Sorta thanks, The Caravan

With Mexico being such a potential paradise for fleeing Central American refugees, it’s puzzling to understand why so many Mexicans previously wanted to get out of there for El Norte. I’m sure Mexican corrupt police, drug cartels and gangs are real gentlemen compared Central American. I’m sure already poor Mexican peasants are relieved to hear of their government’s new sudden largesse.

Interesting how the NYT always depicts "migrants" coming up from Latin America as being a cross-section of society, with men, women, children, old folks etc. Yet looking at the photo at the top of this article, all I see are young men, not a female or a child in sight. Stop peddling the bogus assertion that these people are escaping gangs, bad marriages, corrupt police, werewolves or whatever else. They are young men looking for a better job, because they imagine the streets of the US are paved with gold. That's all it is, and the US is not obligated to let them swarm into this country. Period.

Interesting. If the migrants accept Mexico's offer, then we'll know their plight is legitimate. If they don't, we'll know the whole caravan thing is a scam orchestrated by .... well, by who? That'd be a good exercise in John Le Carre style speculation? Think the Jews fleeing the Nazis in 1938 on the boat St Louis (illegal immigrant advocates often allude to their rejection by every country as a litmus test of morality in the case of Central American migrants) would have been picky as to which country agreed to give them asylum?

Best of luck to mexico - after all, US citizens may well need a place to seek asylum soon.....

This is a very decision for Mexico. Best wishes! More good than bad will be the result of this action.

Nice try, Mexico is NOT trying to help out, it is making it EASIER for the migrants to travel AND assisting them. If he wants them to work in Mexico, pray tell why is he helping them reach the USA?

This is a smart political move on the part of Mexico, makes trump look smarmy.

Amen! USA's lost ,and Mexico's forward thinking win! When will Senate Republicans learn anything from history ?

Ok. So now they will come to Mexico with the 'hope' of crossing over to the US. Can we solve this print penalizing people who hire undocumented immigrants and not allowing children to apply for social services ad though they were head of households. I am not interested in making the US into the socialist country I came from. Let's also help these countries develop their education system and economies. Don't give handouts like NGO's, which a government shouldn't be. Teach them to build and thrive instead and they should have skin in the game

By refusing Mexico's offers of employment and visas, they are proving that they are just economic opportunists. They think the US will give them more free welfare, free medical care, reduced housing costs, and free schools. To get these benefits from the US, they are FORCING themselves.... even physically attacking the US border agents. Shame, shame....

Sounds like a responsible move to absorb some asylum seekers into the Mexican economy. The USA could try the same thing, or assist Mexico in their effort.

This is a significant humanitarian development in the short term, allowing a blessed respite for both the desperate and hopeful alike. Perhaps Mexico's neighbour due norte could likewise be more open to exploring the synergies where economic opportunity and humanitarianism intersect? In a more enlightened political climate, a Pan American policy framework to promote a broader prosperity in our hemispheric neighbourhood would be in place and the current crises could have been mitigated. In a better world, we would all celebrate our shared humanity rather than demonize our differences.

Has anyone investigated the origins of the viral, social media messaging that instigated the formation of the caravan prior to the US 2018 elections? Granted, the “movement” (literally and figuratively) could have had no outside influences. But these days, we must ask: was Russia involved?

Thanks for stepping up to do the right thing, Mexico. Your rich neighbor to the north could not be bothered, naturally.

"Franklin Caballero, 30, from Honduras, said he lived in the United States as an undocumented immigrant for six years but was deported for driving without a driver’s license. Traveling with the caravan, he hoped to make it back." This is just factually wrong. He was deported for being in the country without permission. The driver's license issue is just how he was caught. That is the sort of confusion you create with misleading euphemisms like "undocumented."

As Mexico encourages more immigration from its neighbors, it should find its economy growing faster. That has been the experience of Canada and Australia, both of which have higher percentages of foreign-born residents than the United States.

Clear AMLO did no spend any time reflecting on what happened in Europe in 2015.

Here is where Obrador understands the situation and economics better than Trump. The jobs are in Mexico, with migrant workers they will have an even larger "cheap" work force. Much cheaper than the US and even cheaper than China. Mexican factories will be able to attract more business and thus killing two birds by making it easier to obtain visas. On the flip side Trump's tariffs are hurting US industry. We will never be able to compete in terms of low cost labor ... never. All the tax breaks for corporations went to stock buybacks instead of reinvestment in job training or upgrading manufacturing equipment. Next time MAGA types want to elect a "business man" into office maybe they should pick one who doesn't need be bailed every 10 years by foreign oligarchs.

This is what leadership looks like: courageous, compassionate, and worthy of admiration

The Mexican president is stepping up, while the US president is falling down. One cannot help but see the vast difference between the two. In a country with fewer opportunities, AMLO is showing that compassion can be expressed through government policies

It is about time that Mexico chip in and help these "refugees" instead of (correctly) assuming that they'll simply pass through into the US. Since they're apparently "refugees" and Mexico is a relatively safe country, there is no need to allow them into the US; their host country provides adequate relief and cleanses them of their alleged "refugee" status within the meaning of international law.

It's time for the central American countries to start Revolutions. If their governments and economies fail them they must do it themselves. They can't rely on the United States to solve their own problems. If they want to enter the United States try LEGAL IMMIGRATION.