Asylum Requests Surge as Mexico Becomes a Destination Country for Refugees Kausha Luna - Center for Immigration Studies
go to original March 10, 2017

In this short documentary, we meet Haitians stuck at the border as well as Africans in Mexico City to explore Black migration and identity in Mexico. (Ebony Bailey)

As the Trump administration tightens immigration enforcement, Central Americans are increasingly opting to apply for refugee status in Mexico.

A Spanish language article highlights the experiences of a Salvadoran man and Honduran woman who travelled to Mexico with the intention to cross the border into the United States. In their narratives, the Central Americans explained that after President Trump's election they, like many others, chose to instead stay in Mexico and apply for refugee status. Both of their cases are among those that were rejected, due to the inability to prove that they meet the criteria for refugee status.

Mexico's Undersecretary of Migration Roque Villanueva echoed the migrants' remarks, "The radicalization of some measures with the new U.S. government makes us think that the number of applications will increase."

Mexico's Law on Refugees, Complementary Protection, and Political Asylum gives all foreigners in the national territory the right to solicit refugee status, despite illegal entry. (In U.S. law, when a foreigner who is already present applies for refugee status, that is called asylum, the "refugee" label being reserved for those processed overseas and then brought here.) Additionally, those who do not qualify for refugee status may then request complementary protection, which grants permanent resident status. Any immigration proceedings initiated due to illegal entry are suspended for those seeking refugee status or complementary protection, and remain suspended until a decision is made about the requested status.

According to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) there was a 154.6 percent increase in the number of applications received between 2015 (3,423) and 2016 (8,781). A majority of asylum applications, 91.6 percent, come from the Northern Triangle countries (Honduras, El Salvador, and Honduras). In 2017, the number of applications is expected to more than double.

Read the rest at Center for Immigration Studies

Related: Mexico's 'Little Haiti' Now Home to 3,700 Immigrants in Tijuana (PanAm Post)

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