Why this Mexican school pushes to get migrant children in the classroom

Heavy drops of a tropical downpour are still falling when students at Venustiano Carranza Garza public elementary school head out for recess on a recent afternoon. Everyone’s playing together – throwing balls, playing tag, and linking arms – underscoring a rule laid out by the school principal, Carlos García Roblero: No one should be left out. 

That may sound like a Utopian goal (or a standard “Play nice!” instruction), but the mantra goes far beyond the schoolyard. 

More than 41,000 migrants from everywhere from Venezuela and Haiti to Cameroon and Uzbekistan were detained in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula in 2022. Migrants are often en