2024-01-20 05:00:00
The number of Mexican asylum seekers has exploded over the past two years in Canada, a phenomenon which can be explained both by the increase in violence in this country, but also by the slowness of the federal bureaucracy which allows them to come to work here.
• Read also: Record year for asylum requests in Quebec despite the closure of Roxham Road
In 2023, no less than 22,405 Mexican nationals submitted asylum applications to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, a high in at least nine years (see graph below). A total of 144,035 requests from all countries were recorded last year.
Asylum seekers from this North American country have been particularly numerous since 2022 and have benefited since 2016 from an exemption from having to present a visa to come to Canadian soil.
So, they have been arriving mainly by plane for several years, not having needed to take the Roxham Road as many other migrants have done.
A flow “never before seen” in Montreal
The Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, expressed his concerns about the influx of Mexicans in a letter sent Thursday to his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau.
The Support Center for Latin American Families, located in Montreal, has noted since last year a migratory flow of Mexicans “never before seen” in the metropolis.
“All the organizations and institutions referred them to us because of the language,” says general director Cecilia Escamilla, who explains that her organization has become one of the main reception points for these migrants.
“We were overwhelmed, overwhelmed, overwhelmed, in capital letters! We were not prepared and we did not have the means, she continues. We had to hire volunteers. Our speakers did not have time for everyone. »
Safety or work?
Adèle Garnier, professor in the Department of Geography at Laval University, believes that “several motives” are hidden behind the figures.
On the one hand, according to her, Mexico has been weakened by the pandemic.
“We know that there are problems with drug cartels which jeopardize the safety of a certain number of people. »
But a certain share of those people would come here because an asylum application, which can take years to process, offers them temporary access to Canada’s labor market, unlike tourist status.
“There must be people who come in, who know that it will take a long time to process their request, and during that time, they will work,” explains Professor Garnier.
Especially since only 44% of Mexican asylum seekers had their requests granted in 2022, compared to an average of 70% for all countries, according to data from the Refugee Law Lab at York University in Toronto. .
–With the collaboration of Guillaume St-Pierre and Nora T.Lamontagne
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