'They Have Invaded': Southern MX's Unheeded Warnings About Illegal Immigrants Heading To The U.S.
(Migrants in an outdoor camp waiting to be processed by the Mexican government)
TAPACHULA, Chiapas — Thousands of illegal immigrants lining the sidewalks, locals noticing it is not as safe as it used to be, and the government is overwhelmed with the number of illegal immigrants showing up on a daily basis.
It sounds like Chicago, New York City, or Denver, but it is actually the story of Tapachula, one of the first major cities in southern Mexico that people arrive at while on their journey to the United States.
While the effects of Biden’s border crisis had been harder to see away from the southern border the first few years of his presidency, the negative effects were no longer easy to hide for sanctuary cities during the summer of 2023. Too many illegal border crossers had been processed and released into their cities, causing financial strain and a reckoning over their progressive policies.
Mexicans in Tapachula noticed the difference in the change of migration patterns when it was no longer just Central Americans or South Americans passing through their town. Africans and Haitians are also a common sight in the city center and migrant camps spread throughout the area.
The Mexican government does not allow illegal immigrants to go past Tapachula until they have been processed by the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), National Institute of Migration. Due to the bureaucracy in handing out visas for illegal immigrants, it creates a build-up in the thousands in the relatively small city, and, like Chicago or Denver, it has caused financial problems and locals feeling like they take second place to the new arrivals.
When even some liberal Americans started to finally say they had enough of illegal immigrants coming to their cities, Tapachula had been feeling the crunch for years.
(Africans and Haitians waiting in downtown Tapachula)
(Migrant camp on the outskirts of Tapachula)
“They have invaded…and [now] it’s dirty.”
Walking through the outdoor market you’ll notice longstanding stalls and stores but also some migrants manning their own tables selling whatever they can get their hands on. Space is limited in the high-traffic areas and some vendors, who did not want to be on camera, said they had problems where migrants took their spot and threatened them if they came back. Migrants have also rioted in Tapachula, mainly because of their frustration of not being given visas in a timely manner.
Isabel Luis and Alondra sell clothes in the marketplace and they explained how much has changed in Tapachula since the unending wave of illegal immigrants started coming to town in 2021.
“It affected us a lot because the main center of Tapachula has been invaded, which has affected our business. In addition to our food supply because of the shortage of products and all the prices have gone up,” Luis said.
“We are no longer able to leave like before amongst our town before and sit down on the street benches. Why? Because they have invaded and it’s dirty,” Luis went on to say, pointing to street corners of trash piles that were never there before the migrants’ constant arrival.
“Before, this city was a calm city, clean, a city with many provinces where you could roam about at any hour safely without anything happening,” Alondra explained. “But now we can’t. Now, there’s violence…We used to be able to stroll at two or three in the morning and nothing would happen.”
Alondra added cartel activity has increased in the region to capitalize on the expanded human and drug smuggling routes.
Even something as simple as ripe fruit being sold is not much of a thing anymore. For example, Luis and Alondra revealed that the non-Mexicans eat bananas while they are still “incredibly” green, leaving shortages for locals.
“Once ripened, they sell it higher,” said Alondra.
Like charities and NGOs within the U.S., Luis said there were humanitarian organizations in Mexico that give the migrants money every month.
Many of the parks in and around Tapachula are now home to migrants who are waiting for visas. Nowhere is that more evident than at Parque Ecológico Tapachula. Once a park for residents, it has long since been a staging area where migrants wait in long lines during the day to be processed by INM. People wait in lines divided up by families and single adults. The lines are so long that the further away from the front, it forms one massive line as there is no point in being organized that far away.
Tapachula has been through the wringer for the past few years because of the endless wave of illegal immigration, thanks to the Biden administration, but it does have one saving grace: All the migrants want to leave to head to their final destination, the United States.