The week of May 15-17, 2023, has been marked by a series of violent incidents involving migrants at different borders around the world. Here are some of the most notable events that took place:
- In Mexico, security forces searched for about 50 migrants who were kidnapped from a commercial bus in the state of San Luis Potosi. The bus was found abandoned in Nuevo Leon, near the U.S. border, where nine migrants were rescued. The kidnapping was attributed to organized crime groups that prey on migrants heading north.
- In the U.S., officials faced a surge of migrants at the southern border after the expiration of Title 42, a policy that allowed them to expel most migrants without due process during the pandemic. Thousands of migrants, many of them from Central America and Haiti, crossed into Texas and other states, overwhelming shelters and processing centers.
- The situation was especially chaotic and tense at some border crossings, such as Matamoros-Brownsville and Reynosa-McAllen in Texas, where large groups of migrants gathered and clashed with Mexican security forces, who tried to prevent them from crossing. Some migrants reported being beaten, robbed, or tear-gassed by Mexican police or soldiers. Others said they were kidnapped by criminal gangs who demanded ransom or forced them to work for them.
- In Europe, a report by a network of human rights organizations documented thousands of cases of illegal expulsions and violence against migrants at the EU’s external borders. The report accused border guards and police of beating, robbing, sexually assaulting and humiliating migrants in countries such as Croatia, Greece, Hungary and Poland.
The worldwide migration continues, as the West is besieged by the rest.