Ramón TaylorVerified account

In previous pick-ups, migrants were taken to Monterrey. A local reporter tells me there were only a couple buses at a time. Today there are at least 8. Roughly 350 migrants, many of them from Honduras.

Can’t confirm yet whether migrants were forced to leave. However, they were not allowed to stay in the makeshift camp. At this hour, in Tamaulipas, leaving for the streets would be extremely dangerous. They say the city’s migrant camps were at capacity, so that was not an option.

(Headed back to Laredo. Thread to be continued.)

Yuna, a Cuban migrant returned by US authorities to Mexico under MPP (Return to Mexico) described her choices: leave or be kidnapped by the Zetas (cartel). If you get a taxi, "they'll send us to the lion's mouth." At a bus station, it's kidnapping or extortion.

Yuna says her bus is headed for Tapachula, Chiapas, on the border w/ Guatemala. She doesn't know what will happen after that. Bus drivers wouldn't say a word. She may work in Chiapas (with a temp visa) for 3 months until she figures it out. Returning to Cuba is not an option.

Nixon Josue, 17, says he had heard "rumors" of a US-Guatemala agreement ("safe third country") that would prevent him and his father (Hondurans) from ultimately seeking asylum in the U.S. He saw this as his last chance. He doesn't know yet if he'll ever attempt to cross again.

Before the buses departed, many migrants who hadn't yet boarded had no interest in speaking. Standing, one woman lay her head on a Disney pillow propped on a trash bin. Two kids shared a thin gray mattress and attempted to sleep. At one point, he draped a red cloth over his face.