Mexico’s Foreign Minister discusses Haitian border crisis with Blinken

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “The conversation was about this particular issue and the need for a regional response, not only to this flow that has crossed all Latin American countries,” the Foreign Minister said Tuesday at the National Palace’s daily press conference.

The Monday evening call comes after nearly 13,000 irregular migrants, mostly from Haiti, were detained by U.S. authorities in a makeshift camp under the international bridge linking Del Rio (Texas) to Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña, in Coahuila.

The migrants have been crossing into the United States since Tuesday last week overwhelming the immigration authorities, who set up the makeshift camp while waiting to process migrants’ asylum applications or flying them back to their country.

Haitians are coming from Brazil and Chile after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in August announced the extension of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, an announcement traffickers are misrepresenting, according to Foreign Minister Ebrard.

Mexico’s Foreign Minister urged for a regional solution when saying that migrants pass through Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. “We believe there must be a regional response, with the support of the United Nations, to ensure that the situation in Haiti may improve as soon as possible,” he said.

The Foreign Minister proposed “an extensive information effort” to explain to Haitian refugees in Latin America that the benefits of the TPS program only apply to those who are already in the United States.

He also proposed humanitarian support for the political crisis following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last July and the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that left over 2,000 dead and 12,000 injured in August.

The Mexican diplomat clarified that there is still no final agreement with the United States, which has deported 560 Haitians in recent days.

The Foreign Minister said that Haitians do not intend to remain in Mexico, as only 15% of them have requested refuge in the country.

“They have refugee status in those countries (Brazil and Chile), so they are not asking to be refugees in Mexico, except for a small percentage. What they are asking for is to be allowed virtually free passage to the United States,” he said.