Red Cross provides humanitarian aid for the first time to migrants at Mexico’s northern border

For the first time, the International Red Cross took action in response to the migration crisis in Mexico, providing food to nearly 300 people at the northern border in Ciudad Juarez.

The aid reached migrants on the Mexican side of the Rio Bravo, near immigration gate 36, who in the last week have been violated by both the U.S. National Guard and criminals in Mexico, who at times have prevented them from obtaining food and water.

The migrants, who arrived by train, crossed the small riverbed of the Bravo and a barricade of razor wire after receiving food to join a camp of about 500 people that was formed between the river and the border wall between the US and Mexico, where they will wait to be processed by immigration authorities in a legal manner.

“Well, we are worried about the people who have just arrived and there is no place where they can settle and have a way to have food,” said Maria Teresa Moncayo, representative of the Veterans group, which is assigned to care for refugees and migrants of the International Red Cross.

She recalled that the migrants were drinking water from the canal, which worried the institution and prompted it to provide them with water and sandwiches to alleviate hunger and thirst.

“It is too many people, we are not so prepared for all these people en masse who are arriving in Ciudad Juarez,” he added.

In this context, migrants stranded on the northern border of the country wait for days to reach the “American dream”, sometimes without drinking water or eating any food.

“We haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, we have been waiting in line for two days to try to get through to fulfill our dream. We have not eaten for almost a day, we are all dehydrated,” said Yovel Gonzalez, a Venezuelan who arrived Thursday at the border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Despite the fact that Ferromex, the company that manages the railroads in the north of the country, announced on Tuesday that it would stop its shipments to Ciudad Juarez to avoid more accidents with migrants on board, during Thursday and Friday the train has continued to arrive with migrants who headed straight to the camp set up on the American side, between the wall and the river.

TYT Newsroom