Jose Torres

TAPACHULA (Mexico) – Officials announced Tuesday that thousands of migrants from southern Mexico accepted a government proposal to leave a caravan headed for the U.S. in return for Mexican visas.

One of two caravans of Central American and Caribbean migrants that have left Tapachula to travel northwards with young families has arrived at the U.S. Border.

According to the joint declaration of the interior ministry, national migration institute and Tapachula’s interior ministry, the caravan migrants that fled Tapachula last Wednesday accepted an offer from government to “begin a process that will permit them to legalize their status,”

Under the direction of Luis Garcia Villagran of advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras (caravan organizer), this group reached Mapastepec on Tuesday.

Garcia said to Reuters that the majority of migrants from the caravan accepted Garcia’s offer. Officials would bus them out Chiapas and distribute them throughout 10 states. According to the government, nine states are listed in their statement.

The organizers also agreed to not assemble any more caravans in the future. A Mexican official speaking under anonymity later said that this was done as part of the agreement.

Garcia, the organizer of Caravans denied such an agreement and said nothing about it in his statement.

The majority of migrants expressed doubts regarding receiving legal documentation in Mexico. Organisers claim another caravan is leaving Tapachula. Tapachula was a significant migrant hub close to Guatemala’s border.

Garcia earlier stated that Garcia’s decision to give visas and transport to migrants was positive after Tapachula turned into a jail for migrants, leaving them stranded in the waiting room for the paperwork that would allow them free movement across the country.

Mexican officials said that a group of earlier migrants, including those from Haiti and Honduras, were brought to Guanajuato (about 1,000km / 620 miles) on Tuesday.