Mexico moving migrants away from borders to relieve pressure

By MARÍA VERZA and EDGAR H. CLEMENTE
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is flying migrants south away from the U.S. border and busing new arrivals away from its boundary with Guatemala to keep migrants from massing in its border cities. In the week since the U.S. dropped pandemic-era restrictions on seeking asylum at its border, U.S. authorities report a dramatic drop in illegal crossing attempts. In Mexico, authorities are generally trying to keep migrants south away from the U.S. border, a strategy that could reduce crossing temporarily, but experts say is not sustainable. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported Friday that in the week since the policy change, Border Patrol averaged 4,000 encounters a day with people crossing between ports of entry. That was down dramatically from the more than 10,000 daily average immediately before.