'This is a prison': Mexico struggles to hold migrants far from U.S. border

FILE PHOTO: Central American migrants cross the border between Mexico and Guatemala, after being expelled by U.S. and Mexican officials, in El Ceibo, Guatemala August 15, 2021. Picture taken August 15, 2021. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria

TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) - A bid by Mexico to contain thousands of migrants on its southern border with Guatemala has created a major humanitarian headache https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-condemns-violent-actions-by-migration-agents-caught-video-2021-08-30 for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and failed to prevent many from reaching the U.S. border en masse.

Desperate for work, fleeing poverty or violence, the Central Americans, Haitians and South Americans stuck in limbo in the southern city of Tapachula have staged protests and launched repeated attempts to break out in migrant caravans https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/migrant-caravan-mexico-presses-meets-growing-resistance-2021-09-01.