The Catholic Church’s first point of aid for migrants in the nation is Tapachula, a town in the Mexican state of Chiapas, which has the largest stream of migrants from other nations traveling north.
Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martnez of San Cristóbal de Las Casas said in a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency, that the Catholic Church assists immigrants entering the country through dioceses and parishes in cooperation with organizations like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Tapachula, which is roughly 270 miles south of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, is situated about ten miles from the Guatemalan border.
The cardinal said that the church provides “accommodations, food, psychological and legal counseling” to migrants in its shelters.
He stated, “Taking advantage of the services supplied by UNHCR, those who wish to modify their views of coming to the United States and rather have a job in Mexico, are assisted to pursue that road.”
Aguilar said that the Church also provides them with medical treatment since many migrants “arrive with the illness, overpowered by cold, heat, or rain.”
Additionally, the migrants may have challenges “due to blister issues or if they’ve damaged their foot or knee, and have constraints to carry on walking. They get assistance so they may resume their lives, he said.
According to him, the country’s “environment and sociopolitical conditions, including attitudes at the governmental, local, state, and federal levels,” have an impact on the region’s migratory movement.
He said, “The situation in the United States” is important.
According to Aguilar, migrants often spend a day and a night at the Church-run shelters because “what they want is to remain as little as possible to continue their trip.”
But other individuals “do need to stay longer days in order to recuperate for health reasons or, most all, when they wish to go through a legal procedure,” he said.