Mexican Border Mayor Pleads for Help with Migrants

By Jason Peña on October 10, 2019

The mayor of Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas, this week urged Mexico's federal government to mandate that migrants to be self-sustaining after a period of time of being in Mexico.

Mayor Maki Esther Ortiz Dominguez told the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Mexico’s Congress: "In a shelter we have a thousand people, 400 Cubans, 300 Central Americans, more than 100 from other nations and only 12 Mexicans, Mexicans are not crossing the border, but we must keep everyone."

She noted that Reynosa has roughly 30,000 unfilled jobs but that migrants have shown no interest in filling those positions.

The mayor further noted, "We support them, but they must work, because it costs me between 300 and 500 pesos a day in food, medicines, electricity, water ... It is very expensive, an expense that was not contemplated."

"We are required by those people who invade our cities — they demand public services from us." she added.