Irregular migration through Mexico rose by 193% year-on-year in the first half of the year, according to government data, a phenomenon that would be exacerbated by the electoral uncertainty of USAactivists on the southern border warned EFE on Wednesday.
Mexican authorities reported 712,226 “people in an irregular immigration situation” between January and June 2024, almost triple the 242,928 in the same period in 2023, according to statistics from the Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob).
In just six months, the irregular migration reported by the Government of Mexico almost reached the record of 782,176 irregular migrants that it detected in all of 2023, when this flow increased by 77% annually.
The main country of origin of migrants is Venezuelawith 200,289 registered, which implies an increase of 215% and more than one in four of the total irregular migration in 2024, 29%.
They follow him Ecuador (73.615), Honduras (60.260), Guatemala (56.938), Colombia (44.094), El Salvador (41.679), Nicaragua (36.405), Haiti (30.476) y Cuba (24.151).
Washington puts pressure on Mexico
The increase in irregular migration in Mexico contrasts with the drop in arrests on the border with the United States, where detentions of undocumented immigrants fell by 73% from the peak in December to the 3,415 reported on July 30, according to the Mexican foreign minister, Alicia Barcenalast Friday.
Washington’s pressure on Mexico has grown ahead of the November presidential elections in the United States, where migration and the common border have been a key issue.
But on the border between Mexico and Central America, migration has not stopped and its inhabitants feel overwhelmed, he said. Denis Olivera Aguirregeneral secretary of the Association for the Development of Markets in Tapachula, the main border city.
“Here, the southern border has witnessed how national sovereignty has been violated, in the sense that thousands of people from other countries have passed through Tapachula, migrants, children, entire families, pregnant women, and we have seen how this migratory flow has grown.”he told EFE.
The risks of the road
The flow of people is increasing despite the growing dangers faced by migrants in Chiapasa state on Mexico’s southern border that is suffering from a dispute among organized crime to control drug and human trafficking.
“There are too many risks we face, heat strokes, illnesses, people being beaten, and the most dangerous thing is the situation in the country, kidnappings, yes there are kidnappings. (We are) a little scared, I arrived here with my three children.”the Honduran told EFE Carlos Rivera.
Other migrants are debating whether to stay in the United States or stay in Mexico, where the government has promised refuge for those who want to work in the country, particularly in the south.
«Things are bad in the world and one always goes looking for where things are better or not, I would settle in Mexico, my goal is not Mexico, but I feel safe»said a citizen of the Dominican Republic who omitted his name for fear of immigration authorities.
The Mexican activist Luis Rey Garcia Villagranof the Center for Human Dignity (CDH)who usually accompanies migrants on the southern border, considered the work of the National Institute of Migration (INM) and of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar).
He also warned of a persistent increase in migration in the face of the crisis in other countries, such as the political crisis in Venezuela, where the president Nicolas Maduro He claims that he won re-election despite allegations of fraud from the opposition and the international community.
«There is persecution in Venezuela, problems continue in Cuba, conflicts continue in Africa which are causing many comrades to flee, in Haiti the problems do not cease and therefore migration has increased»he said in an interview. EFE (I)
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