Mexico and Guatemala launch military operation to slow migrant caravans hoping to reach United States

The Joe Biden administration had sent envoys to the two countries on Monday to seek their help as it struggles to control a surge of migrants seeking to reach its southern border

Under Biden, the United States has not been deporting children or adolescents who arrive unaccompanied

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Immigrants from Guatemala, who arrived illegally across the Rio Grande river from Mexico, rest on the US side of the river bank. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:35am, 29 Mar 2021Updated: 3:35am, 29 Mar 2021

The governments of Mexico and Guatemala have launched a joint military-police operation along their common border aimed at blocking caravans of migrants hoping to reach the United States.

The Biden administration had sent envoys to the two countries on Monday to seek their help as it struggles to control a surge of migrants seeking to reach its southern border.

“The criminal networks of human traffickers have sold them (the migrants) the illusion that they can reach the border with the United States without risk,” said Francisco Garduno, head of Mexico’s National Migration Institute (NMI).

“That’s why we are reinforcing our presence” in southern Chiapas state “to prevent children and adolescents being used as ‘passports’ to reach the border,” he said.

An immigrant from Guatemala, who arrived illegally across the Rio Grande river from Mexico, rests on the US side of the river bank on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Under Biden, the United States has not been deporting children or adolescents who arrive unaccompanied.