Latest news with #LuisGarciaVillagran
Korea Herald
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
300 migrants start walk north from southern Mexico
TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — Escorted by police and accompanied by a Catholic priest, about 300 migrants began walking north on Wednesday from southern Mexico, even as the activist who helped organize them remained in police custody over allegations of human trafficking. On Tuesday, authorities arrested Luis Garcia Villagran, the leader of a local nongovernmental organization in the city of Tapachula, in the state of Chiapas, for alleged crimes related to his work with migrants. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing on Wednesday that he was 'not an activist' but was tied to trafficking people — and 'that is the crime.' Sheinbaum said there had been an arrest order pending for Garcia Villagran for years. It was not known why the outspoken and very public figure had not been arrested earlier. Later Wednesday, Mexican authorities said in a statement that investigators had identified a network of migrant smugglers that used various organizations and foundations as a front to move migrants and drugs through Mexico. They did not provide any details. The joint statement from the Attorney General's Office and security forces said Garcia Villagran's alleged role was obtaining false documentation for migrants to allow them to cross Mexico. The group of migrants that left Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, was small in comparison to migrant caravans in years past. There has been very little movement of migrants in public since US President Donald Trump took office in January, though migration numbers had been falling even prior to that. Those walking Wednesday said their goal was not to reach the US, but rather central Mexico. They complained that they had been waiting for months to legalize their status or receive asylum. In recent years, the Mexican government has worked to contain migrants in southern Mexico — far from the border with the US. At times, this strategy has swollen migrant numbers in Tapachula until hundreds set out walking in protest. Chiapas is Mexico's poorest state and migrants complain there is little work or available housing. On Wednesday, Johnny Lopez of Ecuador walked with his wife and three children, including a baby born in Tapachula. They had waited in the southern city for the outcome of their asylum application, which was eventually rejected. Now they planned to travel to Mexico City, where Lopez hopes to find work to support his family. The migrants were escorted by immigration agents, police, marines and paramedics. Heyman Vazquez, a Catholic priest who accompanied the migrants, called Garcia Villagran's arrest 'unjust.' Vazquez said it showed the Mexican government's concern over migrant caravans, which he said would be resolved by making it easier for migrants to legalize their status.
Al Jazeera
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
A migrant march in Mexico continues despite scrutiny of organiser's arrest
A march has begun from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas northward to the central part of the country, in protest of policies that make legal immigration status difficult to achieve. Wednesday's march set out from the border city of Tapachula, near Guatemala, and nearly 300 migrants, asylum seekers and supporters took part. But the demonstration was overshadowed by the arrest one day earlier of one of its leaders, prominent immigration activist Luis Garcia Villagran. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the arrest in her morning news conference on Wednesday. She alleged that Garcia Villagran had been detained for taking part in human trafficking. 'That is the crime,' she said, adding that Garcia Villagran was 'not an activist'. She added that an arrest warrant had been pending for the activist for years. But it was unclear why his arrest was carried out now. The nonprofit Pueblo Sin Fronteras, however, disputed Sheinbaum's characterisation of Garcia Villagran. 'The detention of Luis Villagran, director and human rights defender, is an unacceptable assault,' the nonprofit's head, Irineo Mujica, wrote in a post to social media. 'Luis Villagrán's only 'crime' is to defend those who have no money or voice, and to tell the truth, which bothers the powerful. Stop criminalising human rights defenders!' Mujica – who was detained himself in 2019 on similar charges, only to be released – argued that Garcia Villagran's arrest was a political distraction. 'This is a smokescreen: dirty and corrupt politics to cover up the true networks of corruption,' he said. Mujica and Garcia Villagran have both been prominent voices in a movement to make legal immigration pathways more accessible. They have also been among the organisers associated with the trend of the migrant 'caravans' that travel from southern Mexico to the United States border in recent years. Some of those past caravans have involved thousands of people, many of whom banded together for protection against criminal networks, corrupt officials and other threats they may face as they migrate. Migration northwards, however, has slowed, particularly since US President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January. Trump quickly attempted to bar asylum claims at the border, a move that has spurred a legal backlash. Last month, a court blocked his asylum ban on the basis that it created an 'alternative immigration system' without deference to Congress's laws. But Trump's policies have nevertheless had a dampening effect on immigration at the border. In June, US Customs and Border Protection recorded only 9,306 'encounters' with migrants and asylum seekers at the country's southern border – a nearly 93 percent drop compared with the same period last year. Wednesday's march had a different objective than those past caravans, though, particularly as migrants and asylum seekers turn away from the US and seek other destinations. Organisers of the march sought to draw attention to the slow processing time for asylum applications in Mexico and other hurdles to achieving legal immigration status. It also served as a demonstration against Mexican policies that have sought to keep undocumented migrants and asylum seekers in the south of the country, away from the US border. The Trump administration has pressured Mexico to crack down on immigration into the US, including through the threat of tariffs. Garcia Villagran's arrest in the hours leading up to the march, however, left some migrants and asylum seekers fearful of taking part in the march. The news agency AFP obtained one message that was circulating among participants that read, 'Hide, don't let yourselves get caught.' A Catholic priest who took part in Wednesday's march, Heyman Vazquez, told The Associated Press news agency that Garcia Villagran's arrest was 'unjust'. He added that the arrest revealed a sense of insecurity in the government over the question of migration. The solution, he explained, would be to make it easier for migrants and asylum seekers to obtain legal status, thereby removing the need for such protests.
