Chaos on the southern border of Mexico due to the record number of refugee requests

Refugee applications in Mexico have risen almost 30% so far in 2023, to a record of 37,606 in the first quarter, a figure that is reflected in the chaos and despair experienced by migrants in Tapachulaon the southern border of Mexico, which concentrates more than half of the requests.

Six months ago, Michell Arriaga, a Honduran migrant traveling with two young children, arrived in Tapachula, where you face the slowness of the processes for the delivery of your documentss in the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) of the Government, in addition to tolerating poor attention.

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Arriaga, a single mother at just 23 years old, is originally from Santa Rosa de Copán, where he fled due to insecurity and lack of opportunities.

From there he arrived in Tapachula, on the border between Mexico and Guatemala, where he has met thousands of people from all over the world to cross the country to the United States.

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“Tapachula can be said to be the center where all migrants come to take refuge and it is an increase, I think, daily. I think it is a place that is concentrated more of migrants than of inhabitants”, Arriaga told EFE.

“Among those I have met, (there are) Ecuadorians, Colombians, Salvadorans, Hondurans, Haitians and sometimes it is terrible to see a situation like this, that it increases, and to see that Comar’s responses are not effective, many times the process takes us too long”he added.

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A country of refuge?

The rebound in refugee applications in this first quarter occurs after Mexico received 118,772 applications in 2022, the second highest figure after almost 130,000 in 2021.

But the Comar has only dealt with 7,369 procedures in these first three months, less than a fifth of the total, of which 68% received a positive response.

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Lorenza Obdulia Reyes, director of the Todo Por ellos shelter, explained that migrants carry out their process through Comar appointments, but they wait months. In addition, he denounced that when they receive their visa card for humanitarian reasons They leave Tapachula, but in the state of Veracruz, the immigration agents take their documents and return them to this border city with Guatemala.

“The migratory situation is very strong and more and more emigrate, I do not agree with the caravans because the children suffer, but migration and Comar are forcing them,” he said.

Countries leading asylum requests

By country of origin, the largest volume of migrants recognized as refugees were those from Honduras, followed by those born in Haiti, Venezuela, El Salvador and Cuba.

Claudio José Castro, a Venezuelan migrant who turned 60 years old while in Tapachula, travels with his grandson, a minor who was not provided with documents by the Mexican authorities, so he remains waiting to cross Mexican territory to the United States .

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“It (the problem) is quite broad and the process takes a long time since there is always a movement of people here looking for the north, the United States, and you have to get to Tapachulato the state of Chiapas, looking for a refuge and to solve the problem of the documents,” he told EFE.

In Venezuela, the migrant studied refrigeration and climate techniques, but had to leave his family, since fled from his government due to lack of job opportunities and now his main goal is to reach the United States.

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The presence of migrants at the Mexican borders has intensified this year since the United States announced new measures, which include the immediate deportation to Mexico of migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba who cross the border irregularly.

“Upstairs, when we go up, Migration (from Mexico) treats us very badly and sends us back,” accused Castro. The region is experiencing a record migratory flow, with 2.76 million undocumented immigrants detained at the United States border with Mexico in fiscal year 2022.

EFE