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Meanwhile in

Meanwhile in… Mexico

Since mid-October thousands of Central American citizens have been marching from their home countries through Mexico towards the United States. They are fleeing from severe unemployment, poverty and violence. President Trump has announced that 5200 American troops will be stationed at the border with Mexico to stop the caravan from entering the US.

10,000 refugees should be no problem for the US

Elias Hernandez Valera, an MSc student of Urban Environmental Management from Mexico, reflects on recent events in his country.

‘Central Americans fleeing to the US is not a new phenomenon; we’ve been seeing it since 2013 or maybe even earlier. There are a lot problems of corruption, violence and drugs in Central America. We hope that a group of people will stand up and fight these problems, but it takes time and a lot of effort. It is reasonable and understandable that people want to get out of there, because it is very dangerous for them.

As reported in the news, there are only about 10,000 people in the caravan. Let’s do some simple sums: there are 127 million registered citizens in Mexico, so these migrants do not even make up one per cent of our population. The US is a big and international country too. I don’t see how it would be a big problem if the US accepted the refugees. They are just people in despair who are looking for help for themselves and their families. From what I can see, many of them are well-educated; only those with a certain level of prosperity can afford to migrate. They are disappointed with the very limited opportunities in their home country.

This is a similar situation to that of refugees from the Middle East and Africa who fled to Europe. I really like what European countries did. They managed the situation and enhanced international relations by opening up the borders and accepting them. In my opinion, , the US could approach this in a much better way than sending troops to the border. I really hope the migrants do not have to face more violence at the border.’

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