MIGRANTES. Así VIVEN en las CALLES de México. ¿VECINOS en DESACUERDO?

We are at the beginning of 2024, and the migration crisis in Latin America has reached alarming levels. Here in Mexico City, as in many other parts of the country, in Central and South America, we can see how the migratory flow to the United States has increased more than in past decades. This large-scale migration has caused Mexico to become a funnel where many migrants are getting stuck waiting to continue their journey to the gates of the United States, and many of them are waiting in Mexico City for the process to request asylum in the United States. All of this has had repercussions in the areas with the greatest presence of migrants: The saturation of shelters dedicated to migrants. These shelters have been overwhelmed by the number of people they can accommodate. Some shelters are double or triple their capacity. This has caused migrants to decide to set up makeshift camps outside these shelters, erecting tents, tarps, and pieces of cardboard. This situation has caused tension and anger among residents of various areas of Mexico City where these makeshift settlements have been seen, causing unsanitary problems. Living on the streets, they use public toilets, causing unpleasant odors and all the resulting illnesses. Residents also report that the areas have become unsafe. All of this has caused widespread unrest among Mexicans who live in these camps outside their homes. **In recent years, Mexico City (CDMX) has become a mandatory stopover for hundreds of migrants heading north to the United States. The procedures for transiting through Mexican territory have placed the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) and the National Migration Institute (INM) at the center of the logistics and time management process for migrants: depending on the context, both agencies have been responsible for issuing ad hoc documents. Recently, migrants arriving in the nation's capital sought a Multiple Migratory Form (FMM), known as the "FMM for visitors for humanitarian reasons," a document that certifies that migrants can transit for 45 days without being detained or deported from Mexican territory. As a result of this forced pause for migrants in Mexico City, temporary shelters for various populations began to be set up in 2018. The first one opened was in the central-eastern part of the city at the Jesús Martínez "Palillo" Stadium in the Iztacalco borough. Subsequently, in 2022, a second shelter was opened at the Francisco I. Madero Sports Center – Utopía Olini, located to the east of the Iztapalapa borough, to serve around 300 people from Ukraine. A few months later, on March 29, 2023, the Mexico City government, working in conjunction with the Secretariat of Inclusion and Social Welfare (SIBISO) and Mayor Berenice Hernández, opened a temporary shelter in the Tláhuac Forest in response to the expulsion of Haitian and Venezuelan migrants who were spending the night in Giordano Bruno Square in the Cuauhtémoc borough, in the city center. This space is very close to the COMAR (Comar), where people on the move request refuge. There are divided opinions on the matter. *People who support migrants and people who are completely against their passage through the country.* Or at least **the way they are behaving in Mexico**. In this video, we'll look at both sides of the coin. Both the migrants' and the residents' positions.