Mexico praises its own migrants with a hymn, while abuses continue against those from other nations

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico’s president on Wednesday unveiled a bilingual “hymn” to Mexican migrants living in the United States, even as migrants from other countries continue to suffer abuses, delays and hostility in Mexico.

President Claudia Sheinbaum used her morning news briefing to present the song “Migrant Hymn.” The lyrics, a mix of English and Spanish, include lines like “where we are from, no nos rajamos” (we don't give up).

Sheinbaum called Mexican migrants “heroes,” in part because they sent $63 billion back home to relatives in Mexico last year.

Stressing migrants' loyalty to Mexico, the song says “Cambiamos de lugar, no de bandera” (we change our location, not our flag).

While about 11 million Mexicans live in the United States — including about 5 million without proper documents — many had to flee Mexico because of violence or lack of opportunities, and it remains unclear how loyal or closely tied they remain to the government.

It also remains unclear how much the Mexican government is able — or willing — to do in the face of threats by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to carry out mass deportations of migrants.

Israel Concha, director of New Comienzos, a group in Mexico City that helps returning migrants fit back into society in Mexico, said “The challenges don’t stop when we return to Mexico. Once again we face uncertainty about whether our own government is willing to accept us back in a dignified way and help us.”

On the same day the hymn was unveiled, a migrant shelter in the northern border city of Reynosa announced it could no longer accept newcomers, because gangs were kidnapping so many migrants from its doorstep.

Rev. Héctor Silva, who runs the Senda de la Vida (Path of Life) in Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas, said the situation is so dangerous in the cartel-dominated border city that police escort migrants to appointments for their U.S. asylum applications.

“Until people have security and they stop kidnapping migrants when they arrive ... we don't want any more arriving,” said Silva.

Also on Wednesday, a new caravan of migrants began walking north toward the U.S. border from the city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala. The migrants said they were tired of being blocked from crossing Mexico by the government.

But they have little or no chance of making it more than a few dozen miles. In November, Mexican officials broke up two similar migrant caravans.

Apart from the much larger first caravans in 2018 and 2019 — which were provided buses to ride part of the way north — no caravan has ever reached the U.S. border walking or hitchhiking in any cohesive way, though some individual members have made it.

For years, migrant caravans have often been blocked, harassed or prevented from hitching rides by Mexican police and immigration agents. They have also frequently been rounded up or returned to areas near the Guatemalan border.

This week, the human rights group Doctors Without Borders wrote in a report that “hundreds of thousands of migrants, the majority of whom are crossing to reach the United States, fall into limbo in Mexico, hemmed in by violence.”

____

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america