INCENTIVES

Mexico Offers Work Permits, Health Benefits to Migrants in Caravan

“You’re at home,” President Enrique Peña Nieto says, apparently appealing to migrants to drop plans for the U.S.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced on Friday that authorities will offer work permits, health benefits, and access to education to the thousands of migrants in a caravan heading for the U.S. border. “You’re at home,” Nieto said in a video address, apparently appealing to migrants to drop their plans to make it to the U.S. border. “If you still haven’t done it and form part of the migrant caravan, there is still time to start the process for regularizing your (immigration) situation,” he said. “You will receive medical attention and send your children to school. You will have an official, temporary identification to do the necessary paperwork while you regularize your situation,” he said. His comments come amid stark warnings from U.S. President Trump that members of the caravan will be denied entry at the border and face arrest if they try to cross illegally. Trump has also suggested he will send hundreds of troops to the border to keep migrants out and cut off aid to Central American countries from where the migrants hail.

THE LONG MARCH

Here’s How the Migrant Caravan ‘Crisis’ Really Began

Jeff Ernst