The Mexican state of Puebla is in an emergency situation due to the combination of U.S.-bound Hondurans who get "stuck" there and local migrants returning from the U.S. to rural areas who can't find jobs.
That was the assessment of Elena Ayala Gali, Coordinator for the International Relations degree program for the Ibero-American University Puebla, at a recent panel discussion at a different university in the state of more than 6 million people in east-central Mexico.
She noted that locals are not pleased to have to compete for employment with the Honduran migrants. "Migrants who stay here permanently are one of the biggest challenges," she said, adding that most of services for the migrants are paid for by the state government, the Catholic Church, and civil organizations, whose resources are insufficient. She also noted that the Central American "trans-migrants" are often victimized by criminal organizations.
The large number of Central American migrants flooding Mexico has also made other jurisdictions in the country to confront the pressures of diminishing resources and government services caused by migrants choosing to stay in Mexico.