WAITING FOR REFUGE IN MEXICO CITY.

• Author: Bacon, David
• Position: Haitian refugees in Mexico

With all the attention on the detention centers on the border, U.S. media rarely, if ever, acknowledge that camps of migrants and displaced people exist throughout Mexico. Since May, I've photographed Haitian refugees who began living in a settlement in downtown Mexico City in April. More than one hundred families were heading for the border when they realized that they would not be able to cross or that, if they were unsuccessful in getting asylum (hardly any Haitians are able to), they would be immediately deported back to Haiti. In May alone, nearly 4,000 Haitians were deported by the United States government.

The Mexican government provides some minimal services to the Haitians, who are debating whether they should stay in Mexico. There is a process, albeit cumbersome, in which they can apply for permission to stay and work. As you can see in the accompanying photos, next to the Haitian encampment is a planton, or Occupy-style protest camp set up by Otomi Indigenous people and the association United for Farmer and...