The rally outside the migration office in Tapachula, where dozens of Central and South American migrants have gathered for months, was part of a hunger strike to seek attention to their plight.
Some migrants have been seen having their upper and lower lips sutured by their friends using needles and dental floss (dental floss). Those whose mouths were sewn up were not only male migrants, but also female migrants.
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A migrant starts a hunger strike by sewing their mouths shut during a protest outside the offices of the National Migration Institute (INM) in Tapachula, Mexico February 15, 2022. (REUTERS/Jose Torres)
Ricardo Vargas, a migrant from Honduras, can still speak limitedly, even though his mouth has been stitched. “We want to move freely here in Mexico, they don’t want to let us in, and we don’t have the money to continue being enslaved here until they have time for us. We want to cross the border and feel free without disturbing the immigration officials. We respect their culture and just want a way to cross peacefully.”
Vargas and his contemporaries are trying to get a visa that will allow them to pass through Mexico safely.
According to migration activist Irineo Mujica, the migrants are essentially demanding more humane treatment from Mexico’s National Migration Agency.
“They sewed their lips together to protest the National Migration Agency. They are on a hunger strike, and we hope the National Migration Agency sees them bleeding and realizes that they too are human. We want the agency to deal with this situation better, in a humane way. ,” he explained.
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This image contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing – Click to reveal
A migrant starts a hunger strike by sewing his mouth shut during a protest outside the offices of the National Migration Institute (INM) in Tapachula, Mexico February 15, 2022. (REUTERS/Jose Torres)
Mexico’s migration authority reported an 87 percent increase in asylum requests last year. The increasing number of migrants trying to enter through Mexico’s southern border is also reflected in the number of migrants trying to cross into the United States.
The US Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) reported 1.7 million undocumented migrants trying to enter the US through the border in 2021, up from 458,000 the previous year. [ab/uh]