TAPACHULA, Mexico — Escorted by police and accompanied by a Catholic priest, about 300 migrants began walking north on Wednesday from southern Mexico, even as the activist who helped organize them remained in police custody over allegations of human trafficking.

On Tuesday, authorities arrested Luis García Villagrán, the leader of a local nongovernmental organization in the city of Tapachula, in the state of Chiapas, for alleged crimes related to his work with migrants.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing on Wednesday that he was “not an activist” but was tied to trafficking people — and “that is the crime.”

Sheinbaum said there had been an arrest order pending for García Villagrán for years. It was not known why the outspoken and very public figure

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