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Mexico to use trade deal to ensure US vaccinates workers
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico said Wednesday that it would invoke a North American free trade agreement to ensure that the United States vaccinates its workers against the coronavirus whatever their immigration status. "It's the responsibility of each country to ensure that all workers, regardless of their immigration status, receive the vaccine," Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters. "Any exclusion of Mexican workers is a violation of the labor rights section of the free trade agreement," he added. Mexico protested last week after Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts was reported to have sa...
AFP
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Parents can't be found for 545 children separated by US border policy
Washington (AFP) - The parents of 545 migrant children who were separated under US border policy cannot be located, a court filing and US rights group revealed Tuesday.The separations were carried out in relation to US President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy toward migrants who illegally crossed the border."Through our litigation, we just reported to the court that the parents of 545 kids — forcibly separated by the Trump administration's cruel family separation practice — still cannot be found," the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted.Under the zero tolerance program, the US began...
AFP
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Guatemala sends back almost 3,500 US-bound Honduran migrants
Guatemala City (AFP) - Guatemala has sent back almost 3,500 Honduran migrants from a caravan that was heading to the United States over concerns they might spread Covid-19, President Alejandro Giammattei said on Sunday.In a televised message, Giammattei said Guatemalan security forces were able to "contain" the caravan, that according to the president was a factor in the transmission of the virus."We are experiencing a pandemic in Guatemala which has cost us to control with months of efforts," said the president, adding it was an "obligation" to reduce the risk of further contagion.According t...
AFP
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More than 2,000 US-bound migrants abandon trek in Guatemala
Entre Rios (Guatemala) (AFP) - More than 2,000 migrants on Saturday dropped their bid to reach the United States after Guatemala threatened to expel them out of concern they might spread Covid-19.The group, mostly made up of Hondurans who set out last Thursday from San Pedro Sula, asked local authorities to help them return home, the Guatemalan president's office told news media. An AFP journalist saw some being loaded into army trucks for the return trip.But some small groups said they remained determined to reach the US to escape the poverty and violence in their home country.Late Thursday, ...
AFP
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Mexico deploys military to block migrant caravan
Tuxtla Gutierrez (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexico on Friday ordered the military to deploy along its southern border to block a migrant caravan that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador suggested was linked to the US election.Thousands of mostly Honduran migrants were traveling through Guatemala, heading for the United States via Mexico, just weeks before a tense US presidential vote in which immigration is a key issue."It seems very strange to us. It's very strange that this caravan leaves on the eve of the election in the United States," Lopez Obrador told reporters."It has to do with the election i...
AFP
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Thousands of US-bound migrants surge into Guatemala
Entre-Ríos (Guatemala) (AFP) - Thousands of mostly Honduran migrants bound for the United States surged across the border into Guatemala on Thursday, just weeks before a tense American presidential election where immigration is a key issue.Carrying backpacks and plastic bags, the migrants pushed past two lines of Guatemalan soldiers at the Entre Rios border crossing and continued north -- defying the risks and restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic.However late Thursday Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, in an address to the nation, ordered the Hondurans detained and sent back...
AFP
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US-bound migrant caravan enters Guatemala: AFP
Entre-Ríos (Guatemala) (AFP) - Thousands of mostly Honduran migrants bound for the United States surged across the border into Guatemala on Thursday.Carrying backpacks and plastic bags, the migrants pushed past two lines of Guatemalan soldiers at the Entre Rios border crossing and continued northwards -- defying the risks and restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic.The soldiers handed out water to passing migrants, some of whom applauded the troops for allowing them to pass.Guatemalan Migration Institute officials said some 3,000 people had crossed the border without submitting to a Co...
AFP