Asylum applications in Mexico increase by 30% and saturate the southern border | Almost 100 thousand applicants were registered between January and August of this year

2023-09-18 05:01:00

The Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) reports an interannual increase of 30 percent from January to August 2023, when it registered almost 100 thousand applicants, a situation that keeps the southern border saturated. Haitian, Cuban and Honduran migrants are the main foreigners who gather in search of political asylum in Tapachula, on the border of Mexico with Guatemala, where Comar deals with long lines and the delivery of documents with the support of the National Guard.

Daladier Anzueto, regional coordinator of Comar, reiterated the forecast that the record of requests will be broken and 150 thousand people will be served in 2023. “From two months onwards there has been an increase of almost two thousand people per day, This requires effort, our colleagues have to work twelve hours a day, they come in at seven in the morning and leave at seven at night,” said the official.

Immigration rebound

The migratory flow through Mexico rebounded after the initial drop caused last May by the expiration of Title 42 of the United States, as recognized by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. After the end of that measure, the US government applies Title 8, which increases the penalties for those who cross the border illegally.

The exodus is visible in Central America, where Doctors Without Borders presented a “historic figure” of more than 18,300 migrants who passed through the municipality of Danlí in the last week, one of the border points between Honduras and Nicaragua. Cuban Ariana de la Caridad Recio López, who arrived in the city of Tapachula a month and a half ago, noticed the arrival of thousands of migrants who have saturated the Comar offices.

This migrant in Cuba was a Spanish and literature teacher, but now she sells sandwiches outside Comar while she waits for her documents. “They should continue standing in line because this is the only procedure to be legal in the country, they have to do it compulsorily and in an organized manner,” López recommended to her colleagues. Tapachula concentrates between 50 and 60 percent of all asylum applications in Mexico, so this office faces greater pressure.

Another of the migrants who arrived in Tapachula is her compatriot, Giselis Magdaleno González, originally from Havana, who obtained political asylum in Mexico and a permanent residence, which is why she dedicates herself to selling food with her husband and baby. “Cubans are here because they want to become nationalized here, they want to fill out their papers to be here legally, to work and make a life,” she commented.

José Gutiérrez, a migrant from Guatemala, reported that he spent four days waiting in line to complete his registration procedures while there were children who were hungry and in some cases with fever. The Secretary of Public Services of Tapachula, José Arturo Rojas, reported that last week he organized an operation to mitigate the effects of the crowding of people.

At the beginning of 2023, Comar reported that Mexico is only surpassed by the United States and Germany in the number of asylum applications. The main reasons for the migratory flow are the economic interests of the applicants and the search for international protection when fleeing violence.

Agreement with the United States

The Mexican government announced in early August that it will install a “multipurpose international space” agreed with the United States to serve migrants in Tapachula. Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena toured the facilities where the first multi-service center for migrants will be built, when historical records of asylum applications are being recorded on the border between Mexico and Guatemala.

In Tapachula, Bárcena maintained that the Mexican government is willing to support the Haitian, Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants that the United States promised to care for. Regarding the nationalities that do not qualify in the agreement, the chancellor said that there are other avenues such as humanitarian visas and the CBP ONE application to seek an appointment to request asylum in the United States.

Andrés Ramírez, head of Comar, said that he spoke with the governor of Chiapas, Rutilio Escandón, and with the mayor of Tapachula, Rosa Irene Urbina, because more and more migrants are arriving in the region. For her part, Renee Cuijpers, deputy representative of the UN Refugee Agency in Mexico, assured that the new center in a center will have representatives from international organizations and will seek to provide comprehensive care to people in need of humanitarian protection.