Migrants Rush Asylum Office in Southern Mexico as Thousands Wait in Line
A crowd of mostly Haitian migrants seeking their papers attempted to rush an asylum office in Chiapas state, southern Mexico, on Monday morning, September 18, according to local and international news reports.
Around 4,000 people were estimated to be in line outside an Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) office in Tapachula, a city close to Guatemala, according to El Heraldo de Chiapas, and some had waited weeks to get an appointment.
Footage from Portal Fronterizo, a Tapachula-based news site, shows dense crowds pushing against metal barricades outside the COMAR office and many people rushing past security guards. In the chaos, some people fall to the ground and are trampled by others, while some asylum seekers are pulled out of the crush by people standing to the side.
Officials said 10 people sustained minor injuries in the incident, according to Portal Fronterizo and El Heraldo de Chiapas. Credit: Portal Fronterizo via Storyful
Video transcript
[SHOUTING AND CLAMORING]
[SIREN WAILING]
[SHOUTING]
[SCREAMING]
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- OK.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
