Migrants from new caravan are expected
Some asylum seekers may set sights on San Luis Rio Colorado
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. — This city next to Yuma County could get a large influx of Central American asylum seekers because of a new caravan making its way north and a new strategy by the Mexican government to disperse the migrants among various border cities.
“The government is making preparations to distribute the migrants to various cities on the border,” said Ascension Serna, director of the Don Chon Migrant Shelter in San Luis Rio Colorado that has housed migrants that have so far come to the city.
“It wants to prevent them from gathering in a single city, as happened last year in Tijuana, where most of the caravan arrived.”
Serna recently returned from Mexico City, where he attended a meeting among Mexican government agencies and relief organizations that have been helping the migrants.
Among other issues, the session covered steps to be taken in preparation the arrival of an estimated 10,000 Hondurans that left in a caravan from their country last month, Serna said in an interview.
“Among the cities where the migrants from the caravan are going to be sent is San Luis (Rio Colorado),” he said. “I think that at least three or four trucks with migrants from that caravan could reach us.”
The new arrivals would join dozens of immigrants, most of them from Chiapas, Oaxaca and other southern Mexican states, who already have gathered along the border fence, waiting to present asylum applications to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at the port of entry in San Luis, Ariz. The immigrants say they are fleeing crime, violence and poverty in their hometowns.
In recent months, most Central Americans asylum seekers have made their way to border cities in California, Tijuana and Mexicali, and Serna said the government wants to distribute among more cities to diminish the strain on any single city’s resources.
Serna said a Honduran family arrived at the San Luis Rio Colorado shelter on Tuesday as part of the first group arriving in the new caravan.
Serna said his and other shelters are still awaiting aid from the Mexican government to accommodate the migrants, but that the San Luis Rio Colorado at least has been fortunate to receive funding from the Dar Mas Para Sonora Foundation.
Some immigrants already gathered at the border fence at San Luis fear the arrival of the new caravan could create a chaotic situation.
“I hope that if people arrive here from the caravan, order is respected,” said Urias Bernabe Hernandez, who came previously from Chiapas. “We are doing things legally, with order, but what we are afraid of is that the American government will close the border if it sees disorder.”
Serna said he expects the number of migrants served by his and other shelters will double in the weeks ahead.
“If right now we are serving about 40 migrants every day, I believe that will double,” he said. “But we are going to need a lot more help, and we still don’t see clearly if we will have it.
“We urgently need nonperishable food, medicine and used clothes to give to the migrants. We have had help from organizations in the United Statesion, but we are lacking a lot.”
The San Luis Rio Colorado shelter is making appeals on both sides of the border for donations.