Marching Towards ‘American Dream’: Large Group of Migrants Head for U.S. Border from Mexico

Flying a Venezuelan flag with the phrase “Peace, Freedom, SOS”, a large group of migrants is heading north to cross over into the U.S. from Mexico. The group, consisting of about a thousand migrants, crossed from Guatemala into Mexico illegally through a river which divides the two countries. 

They told The Associated Press they decided to organize the group and march towards their ‘American Dream’ because many had been sleeping on the street and had run out of money to buy food. Roseli Gloria, a Venezuelan, said they just want to move forward. “We want to fulfill our American dream and work because we’re all workers.” 

Others in the group said they received very little aid from the Mexican immigration authorities. They shared that they were given mixed and confusing instructions about how to move forward, or seek asylum in the United States. 

This is the latest migrant group in southern Mexico. 

Washington has witnessed a surge in the number of migrants coming from Central America’s Northern Triangle that comprises El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The U.S. has tried to tackle this by making changes to foreign aid and immigration policies. The Biden administration also proposed a $4 Billion plan to address the root cause of migration from Central America, tried to stimulate private-sector investment in the region, and extended temporary legal protections for certain migrant groups. 

U.S.  Border Patrol agents in 2022 encountered more than 541,000 people from the Northern Triangle countries at the U.S’s southern border. The Northern Triangle, plagued by poverty, corruption, inequality, political conflict and unemployment, is among the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.