Donald Trump makes migration Mexico’s problem

ALBERTO opens his wallet to show how little is in it. It contains no money and no bank card, only the identity card issued by the government of El Salvador, from which he has just fled. He left his job as a car repairman in San Salvador, the capital, which paid $100 a month, because members of the MS-13 gang had demanded from him more money than he could afford. “They killed my brother. And my son,” he says. Alberto and his wife, Gabriela, who is four months pregnant, have found refuge, at least for now, in Tapachula, in the Mexican border state of Chiapas.

Central Americans sneak past Mexico’s immigration controls an estimated half-million times a year, many in search of security or better wages. A few years ago Alberto and Gabriela might have headed to the United States, but they hope to stay in Mexico as refugees. Applying for asylum is not easy. A decision can take up to 100 working days. During that time, the family must visit a government office in Tapachula once a week. Although the couple are entitled to work in theory, in practice many migrants stay jobless while they await an answer. Alberto and Gabriela plan eventually to head north, to a Mexican state with better job prospects than Chiapas.