Thousands of migrants are trapped in Tapachula, just north of Mexico’s border with Guatemala, where they face strict limitations on their movements, few job prospects, poor living conditions and long waits for immigration hearings. Some have labeled Tapachula an “open-air prison” or a “living nightmare” – others call it the southern extension of the U.S. border. Why are they stuck there? The answer is a complicated mix of government bureaucracy, politics and pandemic-related challenges. Meanwhile, moments of anguish and desperation unfold day after day in Tapachula, a city of about 350,000, where migrants who left the turmoil of their home countries realize their journey has been stopped, maybe indefinitely, 1,000 miles from the U.S. border.
TAPACHULA, MEXICO – Thousands of migrants are trapped in Tapachula, just north of Mexico’s border with Guatemala, where they face strict limitations on their movements, few job prospects, poor living conditions and long waits for immigration hearings. Some have labeled Tapachula an “open-air prison,” others call it the southern extension of the U.S. border.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Migrants passing through Mexico desperately need mental health care, but the Mexican government has offered little support. Shelters and NGOs in Tapachula are stepping in to provide essential psych services, but experts and frontline workers say it still isn’t enough.
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In Tapachula, migrants sew their mouths, start fires, and blockade roads, in protest against the Mexican government’s slow process to seek asylum and work visas. In some cases, migrants have been trapped in the city for years.
Watch TAPACHULA, Mexico – While migrants remain trapped in Tapachula, in southern Mexico, the money they receive from family members is spent towards benefiting the city’s economy. But because of delays in issuing legal documentation – some migrants face economic instability and uncertain survival routes while working to survive.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – To survive while their journeys are stalled in Tapachula, Mexico, many migrant women turn to sex work. They face abuse, poor pay and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health care.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Tens of thousands of migrants struggle to navigate a complex and underfunded network of health care resources in the southern border city of Tapachula, Mexico – despite the efforts of NGOs and government officials alike.
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Migrants detail their journeys to Tapachula, Mexico, and the challenges encountered on the way. Tapachula has been an immigration bottleneck for years as tens of thousands of migrants arrive and must wait for documents allowing them to continue north.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Black migrants fleeing violence and economic or political instability in their home countries are finding overt racism in Tapachula, where they await documents from Mexico that will allow them to continue their journeys north. But the glacial pace of the process has made the situation untenable.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – In one of the largest humanitarian crises currently in the Western Hemisphere, a third of migrants stranded at Mexico’s southern border are younger than 18.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Migrants seeking housing in Tapachula, one of Mexico’s poorest cities, have three choices as their immigration paperwork is processed: stay in a shelter and follow its rules, rent a room if they have money, or sleep on the streets. More often than not, their accommodations depend on circumstances and the social environment.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Thousands of migrants pass through Tapachula, Mexico, each in a journey northward, often bound for the U.S. One in three are children, which presents special risks.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Migrants throughout Tapachula are living in crowded conditions. There is little access to food and clean water.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – The unidentified remains of more than 52,000 people are lying in mass graves, forensic service facilities, universities, forensic storage and safeguard centers across Mexico. This “forensic crisis” is playing out in a smaller but no less tragic way in Tapachula.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – People on both sides of the Suchiate River, which separates Mexico and Guatemala, work side-by-side every day, trying to make a living. Comparisons can be made to cities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Migrant children in Tapachula seeking education face many barriers to entry, including moving from shelter to shelter, lacking proper documents to enroll in local schools or needing to work to help support their families. Some spaces offer limited schooling, but most facilities are too overrun to accommodate everyone. But one school, with limited resources, is trying to change that.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico - Migrants have gathered in the thousands in Tapachula, seeking to apply for asylum or humanitarian visas to stay in Mexico or continue their journeys north. Protests outside Mexico’s immigration office have become more frequent as applications bog down and migrants struggle with limited access to social services and basic needs.
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TAPACHULA, Mexico – Tapachula natives and local government representatives describe the drastic change in the city since the onset of the migration crisis in 2015.
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