Illegal migrants traveling through Mexico on their way to the U.S. border sewed their mouths shut in protest. They demand that the National Migration Institute in Mexico provide free transit through the country so that they can reach the southern U.S. border.

Migrants wait in Tapachula, a border city with Guatemala, for the National Migration Institute (INM) to do paperwork and, if officials grant permission, they continue on toward the United States. The dramatic gesture of sewing their mouths shut with needles and plastic thread was carried out by about a dozen migrants mostly from Central and South America. It signals a hunger strike to protest the slow-moving process in Mexico. A small opening is left open for consuming liquids. They swabbed blood away from their lips with alcohol. The symbolism is meant to represent that they are human beings that bleed like everyone else. Mexican officials question why activists who claim to advocate for illegal migration would stand by and support this kind of self-abuse.

“The migrants are sewing their lips together as a sign of protest,” said Irineo Mujica, an activist at the demonstration. “We hope that the National Migration Institute can see that they are bleeding, that they are human beings.”

Mexico’s migration agency (INM) said in a public statement that “it is worrying that these measures have been carried out with the consent and support of those who call themselves their representatives, with the intention of pressuring authorities on an attention already provided.”

Parents are expressing concern for their children not eating for long periods of time. What is interesting is the sense of entitlement that comes through from the migrants. Besides free transit through Mexico, they are protesting for an acceleration in the paperwork process. The problem is that Mexican officials are as overwhelmed as American officials with the waves of migrants coming from Central and South America, as well as other countries around the world. The INM reports that it receives more than one hundred applicants at their office in southern Mexico every day.

“I’m doing it for my daughter,” said Yorgelis Rivera, a Venezuelan. “She has not eaten anything in the last few hours and I see no solution … from the authorities.”

“We are like prisoners here,” Rivera said, adding she has been waiting for a response from Mexico’s migration agency for more than a month.

The INM prioritizes the most vulnerable groups of migrants for processing. These groups include children, adolescents, pregnant women and victims of crime. The elderly and people with disabilities are also given priority.

Biden’s border crisis is a humanitarian crisis. Desperate migrants willing to take such drastic measures to call attention to themselves is meant to tug at the heartstrings of its readers. Most Americans understand the circumstances in third world countries and why its citizens want to go elsewhere. However, most Americans also are against illegal immigration. Biden’s lack of common sense measures to close the southern border and put the kibosh on illegal migration into our country is inexcusable. Frankly, people sewing their mouths shut to demand free transportation look mentally imbalanced. And they are doing it in front of their children. This is not acceptable behavior. Illegal immigration activists are not helping them with their encouragement of such behavior.

Migrants sew their mouths shut in quest for Mexico passage to U.S. border https://t.co/9jZOR2iKyB pic.twitter.com/9boiJ7XSE1

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 16, 2022

Mexico recorded an 87% increase in the number of asylum applications.in 2021. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is pressuring the Mexican government to come up with new aid programs for the migrants. The country being exploited by illegal migration is expected to suck it up and provide assistance for them, regardless of the circumstances, by our betters in the international community. What about national sovereignty?

This is some sick stuff. Illegal migration shouldn’t be encouraged. And, they are not entitled to cross the southern border into the United States outside of the legal immigration process.