Hundreds of migrants have built a new caravan to the US in Mexico by Reuters correspondent

Author Jose Luiz Gonzalez

TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) – Hundreds of migrants from Central America and Haiti built a new caravan Friday in southern Mexico in Chiapas, near the Guatemalan border, and began traveling north to the United States.

The migrants said they wanted to leave Chiapas because they had not been given the humanitarian aid that Mexico had promised or relocated to other parts of the country where they could have a better life.

As many as 1,000 migrants, mostly baby carriers, on Friday began marching from Tapachula, a town on the Guatemalan border, to Mapastepec, about 100 miles (62.1 km) away, where they plan to join another group of migrants, organizers caravan said.

One day earlier, the National Migration Institute (INM) in Mexico began deporting hundreds of migrants to other parts of the country after months of waiting in Tapachula to respond to refugee status or visas.

The migrants were also issued with temporary residence permits in Mexico that would allow them to look for work, preventing threats of moving across the US border.

However, most immigrants from Tapachula did not relocate or accept humanitarian assistance, and they associated with immigrants to the United States.

“We have to work to support our family, and that is why we decided to get out of the trailer,” said a Haitian emigrant who had moved to Haiti with his wife and relatives, who declined to be identified.

Luis Garcia, one of the caravan builders, said about 1,500 people were expected to head north from Mapastepec on Tuesday. In the past, refugees refused to accept government assistance because they feared reprisals.

Earlier on Friday, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) said it had found that last year three Haitian Mexican refugees had been deported.

The Mexico National Migration Institute did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.