Young people from Chiapas want to immigrate to the US because of poverty – Noticieros Televisa

Stories of Mexican immigrants who have attempted to cross into the United States sometimes successfully, sometimes without, continue. US government arrest figures indicate a strong increase in immigrants to Mexico, even from communities that did not use to do so, such as the indigenous peoples in Chiapas.

They cite the reasons: the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and the disappearance of federal aid programs.

“Our lives are in danger in crossing, because not only Migrae, there are other people who block our path”Gonzalo, a migrant from San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas, said.

“They were about to kill us, they shot us, good thing nothing happened there”, Javier, an expatriate, explained.

“Now we are risking our lives; If God decides that we will live in the desert, we will stay there, we will not return with family., highlighted Juan Guzmán, an expatriate.

Gonzalo, Javier and Juan say they were shot by armed men on the beaches of Tijuana while attempting to cross into the United States.

He traveled 3,700 kilometers from his homeland, San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas; They migrated because of poverty, they say, worsened as a result of the pandemic.

“There’s not much work where we are, there’s work but there’s poor pay, also that we’re not doing enough to support Our family”, explained Gonzalo, an expatriate from San Juan Canck.

After four more unsuccessful attempts, he finally decided to return to Chiapas.

“We didn’t want to try again, we were already tired, we were excited,” Juan Guzmán shared.

Juan, 28, says that four years ago he used all his savings to buy two ponies that he took photos of at city fairs. He earned over a thousand pesos per night. Now, he assures that there will be days when he will return home with a profit of 10 paise.

“I had no other job than to work as a motorcycle taxi; The section above here, you go to the center for 5 pesos for a ticket and pick up some people for 5 pesos and if you don’t get anything back with 5 pesos, you just go back,” Juan Guzmán, an expatriate from San Juan Canck.

He says a lack of resources in his community forced him to immigrate to the United States and although he was not successful, he hopes to try again in December.

“Now that I’m here I’m not satisfied, now my idea is to get there”Juan Guzmán, an expatriate from San Juan Canck.

From January to September this year only, The number of Chiapas migrants deported from the United States exceeded the number of people deported throughout 2020.

“Earlier very few people went out, but now almost majority, the volume has already increased, people who go to other places, why, because the need is increasing”San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas Councilor Antonio Gomez said.

San Juan Cancuc is one of the 10 poorest municipalities in Chiapas, Mexico, where most households do not have a minimum income of 39 pesos per day.

In this municipality, 39% of its residents have educational backwardness and 89% of its population lack basic housing services.

“Our houses in San Juan Cancuc are like this, it is already falling, the wood is no longer useful, the walls, when it rains a lot, the rain enters, my sheets no longer work as they seem are inside so I sleep on the floor with my 4 kids”Juana Ruiz, a resident of San Juan Canck, said.

Lorenzo, 50, was a beneficiary of the federal government’s ProCafe program with which he says he maintained his coffee plantation, however, in 2019 said the program disappeared and, he claims, he was involved in the new production of Wellbeing. Could not enroll. program Because he had less than a hectare to farm, he now plans to immigrate to the United States next year.

“Right now I don’t have money to buy manure, I don’t have the support I used to have, I had coffee earlier and now don’t”said Lorenzo López, a resident of San Juan Canck, Chiapas.

With information from Victor Wallace-Mata and Adrian Tinoco.

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