Meet The Man Orchestrating The Endless Torrent Of Migrant Caravans Heading Toward The Border
Luis Rey Garcia Villagran, the leader of several recent migrant caravans, spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation about why and how he works with the groups.
Previously, Villagran dealt with Mexican judicial police, who arrested him in 1997 for alleged kidnapping and conspiracy — crimes he said were falsified and of which he was later cleared.
Villagran started his organization, the Center for Human Dignity, with the reparations he was paid after the years he spent in jail, leading the most recent U.S.-bound caravan.
The leader of recent migrant caravans has helped bring thousands of people through Mexico on a mission he says is driven by God, he told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Luis Rey Garcia Villagran told the DCNF that he’s directly helped 40,000 migrants cross into the United States through caravans he’s led since September 2021, believing it’s his duty to God. He’s done so through the work of his organization, the Center for Human Dignity.
“We are Evangelical Christians. We try to help people least protected, especially women and child migrants. Simply, we apply what is in the law,” Villagran said, adding that he doesn’t receive any financing from anyone for the caravans.
Villagran’s latest group started to gain attention when thousands of migrants reached Southern Mexico in early June. Some members of the caravan were granted work visas by the Mexican government, while others trekked northward with many expected to arrive in Texas, according to The Washington Examiner.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on June 17 that the caravans were disbanding into smaller factions, heading to his state’s border with Mexico. Some reporters on the ground have documented large migrant groups recently making their way to places like Eagle Pass, Texas.
But Villagran says he’s not responsible for the migrants’ choices to either stay in Mexico or move north to the U.S.
“That is no longer my decision. That is already a decision of each person. We have helped thousands of people to leave Tapachula [southern Mexico] with a document in which they can travel throughout the Mexican territory,” he said.
Villagran’s past experiences with Mexican authorities define why he’s chosen to advocate for the migrants and help them make their journeys, he explained.
Judicial police in the Mexican state of Chiapas arrested Villagran in 1997 for alleged kidnapping and conspiracy, according to the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. In 1998, the judge found Villagran guilty, sentencing him to 40 years in prison.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/07/09/caravans-migrants-mexico-border/