Migrants sew mouths shut in Mexico to demand passage to US border

A group of migrants sewed their mouths shut to try to convince Mexico's immigration authority to allow them to reach the US border on Tuesday.

About 12 undocumented migrants, mostly Central and South Americans, used needles and plastic threads to seal each other's lips.

They demonstrated in front of the National Migration Institute to demand papers allowing them to reach the northern part of country, local media reported.

“The migrants are sewing their lips together as a sign of protest,” said activist Irineo Mujica. “We hope that the National Migration Institute can see that they are bleeding, that they are human beings.”

The migrants each left a small hole between their lips to allow them to drink. They used alcohol to wipe away drops of blood from the stitches, Reuters images show. Some were carrying children.

The protest took place in Tapachula, a border city with Guatemala, where thousands of migrants have waited for papers for months to be able to freely cross the country.

Mexico's migration agency said: “It is worrying that these measures have been carried out with the consent and support of those who call themselves their representatives, with the intention of pressuring authorities on an attention already provided.”

“I am doing it for my daughter,” said Venezuelan protester Yorgelis Rivera. “She has not eaten anything in the last few hours and I see no solution … from the authorities.

Ms Rivera said she has been waiting for a response from Mexico's migration agency for more than a month.

“We are like prisoners here,” she said.

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The agency said priority is given to those in vulnerable groups including children, pregnant women, victims of crime, people with disabilities and the elderly.

The institution said it receives more than a hundred applicants at its offices in the southern city every day.

The number of migrants arriving in Mexico as they escape violence and poverty has jumped in recent years. In 2021, Mexico recorded an 87 per cent increase in the number of asylum applications, mainly from Haitians and Hondurans.

The UN refugee agency recently said Mexico should consider new aid programmes amid a surge in the arrival of foreigners, many of them Venezuelans, for whom Mexico now requires a visa.