Secret Routes: Families Navigate Stealthily to Evade Migration Checkpoints
Migrant families navigate treacherous terrains and risk encounters with authorities to bypass migration checkpoints, employing evasive tactics after crossing the Guatemala river and relying on alternative routes
Dozens of individuals squeeze into a van designed for 13 passengers. These individuals have successfully crossed a river on an improvised raft and are now hoping to travel approximately 20 miles to their next destination. However, their journey is interrupted when the van unexpectedly halts, prompting everyone to disembark. Among the passengers are families with children, elderly couples, and single adults who have paid for transportation from Ciudad Hidalgo, a quaint Mexican town on the Guatemalan border, to Tapachula, the nearest city.
However, they illegally crossed into Mexico without any authorization or necessary documents. Consequently, the driver of the van instructs them to evade a checkpoint by crouching down and then meet him or someone else on the opposite side to continue their journey.
Carrying their belongings, the families proceed along a paved pathway. With tall grass obscuring their presence from both the passing highway and Mexican authorities, we silently accompany them.
CNN
Families are using makeshift rafts to approach the United States, as their actions are widely known, similar to the rafts ferrying individuals across the Suchiate River and the international border.
Mexican officials often call out to the walkers from across the grass, urging them to return to the main road. However, these pleas go unnoticed as the migrants continue their march, occasionally gesturing to each other to crouch down and avoid being seen.
Officials made no effort to pursue them as they traversed the unofficial migrant path, only a short distance away from National Route 200, which runs northward from the border.
This constant back-and-forth between authorities and migrants will repeat itself multiple times at various checkpoints along the route. Each halt necessitates a journey of 20 or 30 minutes, accompanied by anxiety regarding the availability of transportation on the opposite end.
The migrants interviewed by CNN viewed this as yet another challenge on their arduous journey, further adding to the list of hurdles that will presumably extend their usual one-hour drive into an entire day.
In Tapachula, they expressed their intention to seek asylum or obtain legal permission to transit Mexico, with the aim of ultimately reaching the United States.
Two families hailing from Venezuela have expressed their anticipation as they prepare for their initial encounter with officials after escaping their strife-ridden nation. They recount their arduous journey, spanning multiple countries including Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala.
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"Its like dealing with the mafia," said Yeimiler RodrÃguez, who told CNN her family had paid about $1,000 per person so far on their 18-day odyssey.
By sunset, they arrive at Tapachula, their overnight stop. While they may spend several days in the city, none of them anticipate staying permanently. Their gaze is fixed on the US - "el pais de oportunidades," the land of opportunity, as they describe it.
A woman's eyes brim with tears as she settles into the back of a van, having successfully evaded a checkpoint. A fellow traveler encourages her, urging her to regain her spirits. "Isn't it the American Dream you yearned for?" he reminds her. "Hold onto that."
