Mexico affirms that migratory flow decreases after the end of Title 42

The flow of migrants has decreased in coincidence with the end of the US Title 42 ban on Thursday night and there have been no confrontations or violence in the US border in the last few hours, Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday.

According to official US figures, the arrests of migrants trying to cross the common border from Mexican territory have reached record levels this week, amid the hope of these people to take advantage of the lifting of the restriction imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is a decrease in the flows observed in the last days. Today, only in Tamaulipas (northwestern Mexico) of more than 1,800 people, if we compare it with yesterday, there is a decrease”, affirmed the Mexican foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, citing data from the migration institute, but without offering more information on other border points.

“In a few words, to summarize, the flow is decreasing to this day, at least until now, we have not had confrontations or situations of violence on the border”, assured the Secretary of Foreign Relations in the morning conference of the Government.

The foreign minister referred to the end of Title 42, a measure initiated by Donald Trump (2017-2021) and continued by President Joe Biden to immediately expel migrants on the grounds of the COVID-19 pandemic, an emergency declaration that has already ended up in the United States.

Although an increase in migrants was expected, who have camped in recent days on the border with the United States in the hope of crossing, Ebrard asserted that the National Institute of Migration (INM) of Mexico reports a decrease.

On the main border cities, the Mexican authorities register 10,000 migrants in Ciudad Juárez, 5,500 in Matamoros and 500 in Tijuana, which are right on the border with the United States.

He also pointed out that the National Guard, which was added to the more than 25,000 elements of the Mexican Armed Forces that participate in the migration plan at the borders, has acted with “strict adherence to human rights”.

“National Guard personnel, as reported, are unarmed. It continues to carry out dissuasive patrols and in order to avoid confrontations with groups of migrants. No other activities are carried out”, he reported.

After the end of Title 42, with which 2.8 million migrants were expelled, the United States applies Title 8, the norm that has historically governed migration, and, in addition, Washington announced new measures that restrict access to request asylum in the border with Mexico.

Even so, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs recalled that human traffickers or “polleros”, who charge migrants up to US$10,000, deceive them with the promise of taking them to the United States now that the measure has ended.

“Unfortunately, people are cheated a lot, families. It is false what they were told that they are going to stay, that if you arrive you will stay because there is no Title 42 anymore″, he pointed.

On the other hand, the foreign minister of Mexico supported the legal channels that the Biden government has promoted to grant asylum.

“The United States is doing its part because they offered, as you will remember, 360,000 permits to those who do carry out their documented procedure through this app (CBP One), they have more than 100,000 (granted)”, he commented.

With information from Reuters and EFE