“The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north. . . The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
The words above from Ecclesiastes apply well to today’s story. As much as we hear about migration from the Northern Triangle, from Latin America, and from “extra-continental” countries around the world, the fact remains that it is our luckless neighbor to the south, Mexico, that has always provided us with the most illegal–and legal–migrants.
Officially, about 12 million Mexicans live in the United States, nearly half illegally. Mexicans make up at least a quarter of all immigrants, legal and otherwise. In any given year, at least one fourth of migrants will be Mexican nationals.
And so it comes as no surprise to learn that 24,000 migrants from the southern Mexico state of Michoacán are en route to Tijuana, with one goal in mind: to reach the U.S.
The Border Report website made that announcement yesterday, quoting Gregorio López Gerónimo, a former Catholic priest and founder of Good Samaritan, a migrant advocacy group based in Mexico that is helping the migrants enter the U.S. “We have shown them the protocols and explained paperwork they need to have on hand if they are to be granted access to the United States,” said López Gerónimo.
Michoacán has descended into chaos recently as cartels have begun fighting for control of the region’s avocado industry, resulting in the displacement of 24,000 people. López Gerónimo says at least 3,500 are already on their way to Tijuana, considered the safest border community for asylum seekers.
José Luis Pérez Canchola, head of Tijuana’s Migrant Care office, last week said the city will continue to welcome more migrants, although all the local shelters are already full. Border Report says that 60 percent of the migrants being hosted are Mexican, and most are natives of Michoacán and neighboring Guerrero.
And so, the wind–and the migrants–again have “turneth toward the north” and there is nothing new under the sun.
For more, see the Border Report website.