One in three migrants wants to live in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (EFE).— After reaching a new record of more than 140,000 asylum applications in 2023, Mexico is “a new home” for thousands of people who have left their countries, mainly due to violence, as reported yesterday Monday the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

“One in three mobile people in the country have shared with us that they hope to make Mexico their new home, a finding that coincides with the record number of asylum applications in 2023,” said the UNHCR representative in Mexico, Giovanni Lepri. , in the presentation of the organization’s annual results report.

Mexico registered 140,982 requests in 2023 before the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar), at the same time that it received hundreds of thousands of people in transit to the north, according to the report.

The Mexican government previously noted that this made the country the third with the most asylum requests, only behind the United States and Germany.

“It is a fact that Mexico is not only a country of transit and origin of people seeking protection elsewhere, but it has also become a country of destination,” said the UNHCR representative in Mexico.

Lepri told EFE that about 26% of some 6,000 people in transit through Mexico surveyed by the UNHCR last year expressed their interest in staying in the country.

A violent expulsion Among the main reasons that have forced them to leave their countries of origin, according to the report, are violence, insecurity and threats.

Additionally, two out of three respondents (66%) indicated that their life, safety or freedom would be at risk if they were returned to their country.

On the other hand, Haiti, Honduras, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala and Venezuela are the countries of origin from which around 86% of asylum requests come, the report continues.

However, Lepri highlighted that there are still many challenges and opportunities regarding the protection and integration of refugees and people in transit through Mexico.

Mainly, he stated the difficulties so that people can have the necessary documentation for their regular stay, as well as so that they can open a bank account.

The report details that the challenges continue to consolidate the structure and operational capacity of Comar “and ensure sufficient budget to provide service to people with international protection needs.”

Also, the report highlights an increase in internal displacement in seven states of Mexican territory due to violence: Chiapas, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.