Flood of Central American Migrants Strain Mexico's Border Shelters The News
go to original May 1, 2013

Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico highlights the dangerous journey that these irregular migrants make and how Amnesty International would like the Mexican government to act. (AmnestyInternational)

Central American migrants chasing the American dream are flooding shelters in Mexico’s border states, according to a Coahuila priest.

The Rev. Pedro Pantoja Arreola, owner of the Posada del Migrante shelter in Saltillo, Coahuila, said this week that the flow of Central Americans into the United States has remained steady, and that his shelter in Saltillo is full and struggling to deal with migrants and maintain the overcrowded facility.

Pantoja said that the refuge, built to hold 100 people, is hosting an average of 160 migrants daily, and has even helped up to 380 people.

“We have 160 people, that doesn’t mean we have a capacity of 160 people, but we deal with the Central American population, many come hurt and have escaped from kidnappers,” he said.

Coahuila, which borders Texas, is one of the major crossing points for Central American migrants, mainly from poor and violent Honduras and El Salvador, looking to enter the United States.

Pantoja said the shelter exists to care for a vulnerable population and will not turn people away.

“Even if there are 300 or 350 people, we can’t close our doors to anyone and depending on their physical condition they may stay for an extended time in the shelter,” he said.

He said that many at the shelter are victims of criminal organizations who kidnap migrants and rob them of what little money they have. The shelter, he added, struggles to pay for food and basic health-care services for the migrants.

“We have an incredible amount of tolerance, because the majority of those who turn up at our shelter come beaten and bruised, so we do some personal research to see if they are in any condition to leave,” Pantoja added.

He went on to say that thousands of migrants pass through the “circle of terror,” from Chiapas in the south, through Veracruz north towards the border, in search of the American dream.

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