By News Editor 
Mexico City authorities have resumed operations to evict and relocate migrants living in irregular encampments, this time targeting the settlement located in the Vallejo neighborhood of the Gustavo A. Madero borough, known as GAM. For many local residents, the sites have become nerve centers for crime and public health issues due to the precarious nature of encampments.
Border Dynamic
Among those affected is Alejandra Muñoz, a Venezuelan woman who has lived in the encampment for a year. She had intended to enter the United States via the CBP One system, but after its cancellation in January, she turned to seeking asylum in Mexico. She expressed frustration, noting the authorities are offering “help” for the first time in 365 days — but only in the form of eviction threats.
Government Response
Personnel from the Human Mobility Coordination Office arrived around 7 a.m. to inform the migrants that they must move to the Vasco de Quiroga Human Mobility Assistance Shelter in Tepito, as the Vallejo site will be dismantled by Monday at the latest.
Cleanup crews have already begun dismantling some of the makeshift “ranchitos” — rooms built with scraps of wood and tarps — that house migrant families from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
At least 400 people live in this area, including 100 migrant children, many of whom have been living there for over a year, have jobs, and whose children attend the nearby “La Prensa” primary school.
There is growing anxiety among the migrants, who fear losing their few possessions, their jobs, and disrupting their children’s schooling. Many children are expected to return to classes on Monday after the Easter holiday break.
Activists monitoring the situation warn that at least 55 children attend primary school, 4 are in secondary school, and 12 are enrolled in preschool.
Additionally, 110 residents are asylum seekers, 27 of whom have been waiting for more than three months for an appointment with the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar).
Temístocles Villanueva, head of the Human Mobility Coordination Office, stated that the relocation aims to “guarantee security and certainty” for the migrants, promising continued educational access for children at the shelter, which can accommodate up to 500 people.
City workers, cleaning crews, and police officers are already stationed around the camp as dismantling efforts continue. The controversy will only grow as US bound migrants continue to get diverted away from the social programs once available into Mexico where while residency is very possible but difficult jobs await.