Crime and Economic Woes Contributing to Mexico’s Refugee Influx Pablo Kummetz - DW
go to original June 26, 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)

In Latin America, the line between asylum seeker and refugee is fluid. State persecution of refugees rarely occurs, but the conflicts between rival gangs and drug cartels are growing.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), slightly more than 9,000 requests for asylum were submitted in Mexico in 2016, but the number of economic refugees who either want to stay in the country or, as in most cases, continue on to the United States, has risen to half-a-million.

"These are mixed migration currents in which it is difficult to distinguish the people who are seeking asylum from the ones fleeing violence and conflicts," Francesca Fontanini, from the UNHCR in Mexico, told DW.

"The growing activities of criminal organizations, land theft, violence against women and forced recruitment quickly caused the numbers to skyrocket," Fontanini added.

Most of the refugees in Mexico, 90 percent, come from three countries: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. These countries are known as the Northern Triangle. There, non-state violence has reached a hitherto unknown magnitude.

In the time period between October and December 2015 alone, almost 40,000 people crossed the Mexican border into the US. The number of unprocessed asylum application submitted by people from the region increased from 21,000 in 2012 to 110,000 in 2015, including applications in Canada and the US.

"The UNHCR works with asylum seekers and other organizations to take care of the other refugees," said Fontanini. "In any case, it is not only important that asylum and protection are provided but also that people are successfully integrated into society."

Read the rest at Deutsche Welle

Related: Illegal Immigrants in Mexico Are Now Using Uber to Cross Border Points Undetected (PanAm Post)

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