- Mexican authorities stated that humanitarian requests were reduced by 48% for the second half of 2024
The Migration Policy Unit of the Mexican government reported on Thursday, October 17, that asylum applications in that country decreased by the end of the second half of 2024. However, humanitarian organizations warn that shelters and shelters on the country’s southern border remain. saturated with migrants.
Venezuelans are the fifth nationality with the most humanitarian requests with 3,623. Honduras occupies first place among the countries of origin of the petitioners, with 23,169 people, followed by Cuba with 12,612, Haiti with 6,188, El Salvador with 4,601, then comes Venezuela. The list is completed by Guatemala with 3,174, Colombia with 1,742, Nicaragua with 754, Ecuador with 739 and Chile with 370. The rest come from unidentified countries.
Mexican authorities have received 58,806 asylum requests from January to September 2024, which represents a decrease of 48% after the record of 113,177 registered in 2023, according to records from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar).
The figure represents a change in trend after the record of almost 141 thousand asylum requests in the entire year 2023. It was the third highest number in the world, according to the Mexican government.
The asylum application process can take more than eight months
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Karla Aguilera Ortiz, originally from Honduras, said that her immigration process took her eight months. From the Todo por Nuestros shelter, he told EFE that he has noticed a decrease in the arrival of migrants.
“There are few people, it’s not like when I came. It has decreased because they take time to resolve the process and some continue alone towards the north,” he explained.
On the other hand, Yamilet Esquivel, a Cuban migrant, carries out a simultaneous process before Comar and through CBP One, the application of the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to request asylum.
“I am applying for an appointment to cross into the United States, but I am asking for refuge because when I arrived I didn’t know what to do. Now I apply every day, it’s a matter of luck, there are many migrants, it has grown a lot,” he said.
Obstacles in the asylum application process in Mexico
Luis Rey García Villagrán, president of the Center for Human Dignification (CDH) on the southern border of Mexico, considers that there is a decrease in asylum requests due to the non-application of article 52 of the Migration Law. This article grants Comar applicants a humanitarian visa valid for one year throughout Mexican territory.
“A year ago, the National Migration Institute and the Mexican State decided not to abide by this article. As a result, refugee requests were reduced, since migrants know that they must stay in Tapachula for a year, and no one wants to stay there,” he stated.
Despite this situation, migrants like Denise Romero, originally from Honduras, do not perceive changes on the ground. Even without a response from Comar, he noted: “Every time I go, there are a huge number of people. They have to serve a limited number of people per day, which delays those who have already registered. As a migrant, I can say that the number of people has not decreased, on the contrary, it is increasing,” he added.
With information from EFE
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