The irregular migration intercepted by Mexico has tripled in the first quarter of the year to almost 360,000 people amid growing operations, although the Government affirms that the migratory flow It has decreased.
The Mexican authorities They detected 359,697 “people in an irregular immigration situation” between January and March 2024, an increase of 199.68% compared to 120,029 in the same period of 2023, as revealed by the statistics available this Saturday from the Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior.
In just three months, the Government of Mexico has intercepted almost half, 46%, of the record 782,176 irregular migrants which it detected throughout 2023, when this flow rose 77% annually.
The main country of origin of migrants is Venezuelawith 89,718 registered, almost one in four of the total, 24.94%.
They are followed by Honduras (37,323), Ecuador (36,956), Guatemala (36,934), Colombia (21,534), Nicaragua (18,711), El Salvador (17,720), Haiti (16,791) and Cuba (10,464).
More operations and less migration, according to the Government
The figures are released after a joint statement issued last Monday by the presidents of USAJoe Biden, and from Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who agreed “work together to immediately implement concrete measures in order to significantly reduce irregular border crossingsis”.
As an achievement, Lopez Obrador He stated on Thursday that arrests of undocumented immigrants have fallen by more than 50% on the border with USAwhich reported about 12,000 daily in December and in April dropped to an average of 5,812.
The tension for migration has increased this year because the Mexican presidential elections and of USAbut the Mexican president denied that he was tightening controls due to pressure from the US.
“No, it’s just that I don’t let myself be pressured by anyone, Mexico It is an independent country and the president of Mexico acts freely, he is not a puppet of any foreign government.“, he stated in his morning conference.
The southern border suffers from the phenomenon
Tapachula, the largest city on the southern border of Mexicostill resents the phenomenon, although some activists point out that the number of migrants on the streets has decreased.
Gerver Bermúdez, administrator of the Jesús el Buen Pastor shelter in Tapachula, considered that the presence of foreigners has decreased, but they have not stopped arriving in the city, where they stay for four or five days and continue their route because the authorities are not giving them permits. traffic.
“The shelter is always full and the objective is to support everyone who comes as an immigrant. We have handled between 800 and 900 people of different nationalities such as Hondurans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Ecuadorians“, he told EFE.
On the other hand, Cecilia Izaguirre, a human rights defender in Tapachula, highlighted that the presence of so many is no longer very visible. foreign.
“People no longer stay in Tapachula, because they came to be here to do their Comar (Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance) procedure, but now they are passing by, it has decreased a little, but it has not stopped or it has not decreased in a great quantity“said the activist.
The Cuban Felipe Martínez, who works as informal way parking vehicles, he explained that now the migrants “they walk away” from the southern border in the face of the action of the Mexican authorities.
“They leave in a caravan because they delay the paperwork a bit, they fall into a state of anxiety because they want to be established in one place with their families, they become desperate, they emigrate and continue looking for new horizons.“said the migrant, who is waiting for Comar to resolve his asylum request.
On the other hand, Jorge Cruz, a Honduran who is in the Jesús el Buen Pastor shelter, considered that migration remains normal because “there are always enough of them every day”.
“There are always, I see that there are more people who go up and up, it hasn’t gone down, quite a few people come in, quite a few people also come into the shelter, there are children and women, who are supported, they come and go”, he commented.
Source: Gestion
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