Several hundred migrants in southern Mexico awaited buses north on Monday under a new government program meant to help manage the numbers arriving, as Mexico’s president said 10,000 people have been reaching the northern border with the U.S. daily.
Thousands of migrants have crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in recent weeks, alarming officials in U.S. border cities and prompting delays to trade.
In the northern city of Tijuana on Monday, opposite San Diego, California, several dozen people scrambled over a part of the U.S. border wall that cuts across the beach at the Pacific Ocean in a video seen by journalists.
More than 3,000 km (1,864 miles) south, at a bus terminal in the city of Juchitan in Oaxaca state, some migrants said they would enter the U.S. with appointments secured via a U.S. government app, CBP One, and request asylum.
“Let’s wait for the appointment, because we’ve suffered so much just to get this far,” said Victor Salma, from Venezuela.
Salma was among about 400 people, including families with small children, awaiting buses headed to the state capital or Mexico City.
Oaxaca officials opened the site last week in an effort to reduce risks for migrants, who had been gathering in large numbers at local bus terminals while trying to buy bus tickets north.
Jesus Gonzalez, a representative of the local civil protection agency, said 800 to 1,000 migrants pass through the Juchitan site per day.
Migrants must pay their own fares, ranging from 386 to 1,500 pesos (about $22-$85), and some people said they were awaiting money transfers from relatives, or seeking work, to raise funds.
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