African migrants are using South and Central America as a conduit in their quest for asylum in the US
It is commonly known that migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have been seeking asylum in Mexico and the US in growing numbers, however the number of migrants from Central African countries that have also been arriving in an attempt to reach the US has surged in recent months.
The African migrants include families and individuals fleeing political upheaval and violence in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Angola, and they are following dangerous routes through Latin America to reach the US. US border patrol agents in the Del Rio area west of San Antonio, Texas have reported that since May 30 more than 500 Africans have been detained, including a group of as many as 100 Africans who attempted to make the border crossing into the US together.
The migrants are making the long journey via sea or air into South American countries like Brazil, then trekking north through Columbia and into Panama by foot. The journey is perilous and long. The more than 100 mile border area between Columbia and Panama known as the Darién Gap is an inaccessible, mountainous region covered in dense jungle and swamp areas and is home to bandits and drug smugglers. Migrants making their way through this area have been subjected to robberies, rapes and death. Those who make it through are detained in border towns like Tapachula, a city located in the southeast of the state of Chiapas in Mexico near the Guatemalan border and the Pacific Ocean. Here, hundreds of Africans have been held while they try to obtain humanitarian visas or other travel documents.
It is thought that the popularity of this new route is a result of the ongoing crackdown against North African migratory routes, which has forced migrants to look for new ways to reach asylum.
