数百名寻求庇护者本周末在墨西哥被捕并被拘留，此前他们被迫花了数周(如果不是数月的话)等待获准北上，试图不顾一切地抵达美国边境。

据美联社报道，虽然该组织的一些成员来自邻近的中美洲国家，但更多的成员来自非洲和加勒比海国家。

几周以来，许多寻求庇护者被迫在墨西哥的塔帕丘拉镇等待官员给他们发放继续北上的旅行签证，他们希望在那里到达美国边境。

然而，当这些签证没有来的时候，他们决定离开墨西哥南部的小镇，在周六早上日出前出发。

取得20英里的进展后，美联社称，寻求庇护者被数百名国民警卫队成员和警察包围，他们被迫乘坐货车返回塔帕丘拉。

塔帕丘拉弗雷·马蒂亚斯·德科尔多瓦人权中心发言人萨尔瓦·拉克鲁斯谴责了这一举动，指责官员们在试图与寻求庇护者对抗之前，一直在等待他们筋疲力尽。

拉克鲁斯对美联社表示，逮捕这些人是一种“人类狩猎”，他说，在寻求庇护者旅行了至少20英里后，决定逮捕他们，然后将他们送回塔帕丘拉是一种“残忍的行为”

“他们需要国际保护，”拉克鲁斯说。

相反，数百名寻求庇护者被迫进入地狱，在塔帕丘拉等待，以确定他们是否会被驱逐回自己的祖国，或者获得居留签证。

据报道，墨西哥政府向寻求庇护者提供了在墨西哥南部获得居留和工作许可的选择。然而，由于美国收紧边境政策后移民案件的涌入，这些许可证很难送达受益者手中。

即便如此，墨西哥南部的就业机会也可能难以获得，因为该地区是该国最贫穷的地区。

在最近几个月，美国海关和边境保护局称抵达边境的非洲移民数量有所增加。

随着欧洲国家继续打击非正常移民，许多人把目光投向了美国边境。

今年6月，CBP表示，被拘留在美国边境的非洲移民数量“急剧上升”，其中许多人来自刚果共和国、刚果民主共和国和安哥拉。

2019年7月9日，墨西哥西北部下加利福尼亚州蒂华纳市，一名男子在抗议活动中，等待谈判委员会从埃尔查帕拉入境港走出来时，检查了他的手机。

MASS ARRESTS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS ON THEIR WAY TO U.S. BORDER BRANDED 'HUMAN HUNT': 'THEY NEED INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION'

Hundreds of asylum seekers were arrested and detained in Mexico this weekend after making a desperate attempt to reach the U.S. border after having been forced to spend weeks, if not months, waiting to be granted permission to travel north.

While some members of the group had traveled from neighboring Central American countries, many more had come from African and Caribbean countries, according to The Associated Press.

For weeks, many of the asylum seekers had been forced to wait in the Mexican town of Tapachula for officials to grant them travel visas to continue north, where they hoped to reach the U.S. border.

When those visas never came, however, they decided to leave the southern Mexican town, setting off early on Saturday morning before sunrise.

After making 20 miles of headway, the Associated Press said the asylum seekers were surrounded by hundreds of National Guard members and police officers, who forced them to return to Tapachula in vans.

Salva Lacruz, a spokesperson from the Fray Matias de Cordova Human Rights Center in Tapachula, condemned the move, accusing officials of having waited for asylum seekers to tire out from the journey before making any effort to confront them.

Branding the arrests a "human hunt," Lacruz told AP that the decision to arrest asylum seekers after they had traveled at least 20 miles and then send them back to Tapachula was an "exercise in cruelty."

"They need international protection," Lacruz said.

Instead, the hundreds of asylum seekers have been forced into limbo, waiting in Tapachula to find out whether they will be deported back to their home countries or offered visas to stay.

The Mexican government has reportedly offered asylum seekers the option of obtaining residency and work permits in southern Mexico. However, due to the influx of immigration cases the country has had following the U.S.' tightened border policies, those permits have been slow to reach beneficiaries.

Even if they do, job opportunities in southern Mexico may also be difficult to come by, given that the region is the poorest in the country.

In recent months, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has said it has seen a rise in the number of African migrants arriving at the border.

Many have set their sights on the U.S. border, as European countries continue to crack down on irregular migration.

In June, CBP said it had seen a "dramatic rise" in the number of African migrants detained at the U.S. border, with many of those apprehended coming from the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola.

​A man part group of asylum seekers, mostly from African countries, checks his phone as he waits for a negotiation commission to walk out El Chaparral port of entry during a protest in Tijuana, Baja California state on July 9, 2019, northwestern Mexico.