Migrants continue march through Mexico towards the United States

(Patria) - A caravan in Mexico of at least 1,000 migrants has continued its march towards the US border, accusing Mexican authorities of not fulfilling their promise to issue humanitarian visas, AFP reported.

Carrying a banner that read "Exit from poverty" and chanting "We are not criminals. We are international workers," the migrants set off at dawn from the town of Arriaga in the southern state of Chiapas.

The same group of migrants decided to disband the previous caravan that set off from Chiapas on Christmas Eve, after immigration officials agreed to respond to requests that included visas that would allow them to travel freely through Mexico.

The authorities "did not fulfill" the promise, said Luis Garcia Villagran, an activist who accompanied the caravan.

"They left them (migrants) in shelters... they separated families and caused serious problems," he told reporters.

The migrants, including families with children, many of them from Central America and Venezuela, complained that they had been deceived.

"Immigration authorities lied to us. They made a promise they did not keep. They just wanted to break up the group," said Rosa Vasquez from El Salvador.

The increase in migration was at the top of the agenda when Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior US officials visited Mexico last month, seeking to curb the influx.

Right-wing US Republicans in Congress have blocked President Joe Biden's request for additional funding for Ukraine and Israel, demanding in return that he agree to new measures against illegal migration.

In the weeks before Blinken's visit, US border police reported about 10,000 migrant crossings every day, many of them fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries.

While some pay smugglers to transport them through Mexico, others join caravans traveling on foot, enduring hunger, exhaustion, and insecurity.