Mexican officials clear border tent camp as US pressure mounts

Matamoros: A ragged migrant tent camp next to the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, is a long way from the country’s National Palace, where a top level US delegation met with Mexico’s president seeking more action to curb the surge of migrants reaching the US border.

But as Mexican officials in Matamoros worked with bulldozers Wednesday to clear out what they claimed were abandoned tents, it was probably a sign of things to come.

The United States has given clear signs by temporarily closing key border

rail crossings into Texas that it needs Mexico to do more to stop migrants hopping freight cars, buses and trucks to the border. Mexico, desperate to get those crossings reopened to its manufactured goods, is starting to give signs it will crack down a bit.

That was on display in Matamoros as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with President Andr s Manuel L pez Obrador in Mexico City.

Migrants set up the encampment in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas in late 2022.