Last year, Mexico broke a record in asylum requests from migrants from various nations, which made it the third country in the world to receive more asylum applications, only below the United States and Germany, stressed the Agency of the UN for Refugees (UNHCR).
When presenting its annual report “Protection and solutions in a pandemic”, the UNHCR pointed out that during 2021, 131,414 new petitions were received, 220% more than in 2020, generating three simultaneous pressures on population movements: in the south, north and inland. of the country with internal displacement, which also, it was said, forced the agency to strengthen its actions in several areas.
He also warned that the sudden and pronounced increase in the arrival of large numbers of people who were part of mixed and secondary movements and the absence of legal alternatives to regularize their stay, put great pressure on the capacity of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance ( Eat).
In this context, Andrés Ramírez Silva, head of Comar, recognized that the challenge has been gigantic, because, although it is easy to say that Mexico has become the third country in the world with the largest number of asylum seekers, The reality is that it is not clear how far the problem can go because the figures continue to grow.
Ramírez Silva added that only in the first quarter of this year there is already a 31% increase in requests, compared to the same period in 2021.
The report detailed that for the first time in Mexico, Haiti was the country from which the most asylum seekers came, with 39% of the total, however, if Chilean and Brazilian nationals dependent on Haitian parents are included, the percentage reaches 48 percent.
Following are applicants from Honduras with 28%; Cuba with 6%; and Venezuela and El Salvador with 5%, respectively. Of the people who applied for asylum in 2021, 41% are women and 59% are men. Adults represent 76% of the total and children and adolescents, 24 percent
For his part, the general director of Human Rights and Democracy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Cristopher Ballinas Valdés, agreed on the great pressure that migratory flows and the Coronavirus pandemic have generated on Comar, since the law in the matter was thought to receive few numbers of refugees.
On the other hand, it was said that due to the fact that border restrictions and expulsions from the United States to Mexico and the countries of origin continued in the north of the country, by virtue of the public health order known as Title 42. Between February and August , as a consequence of President Joe Biden’s decision to end the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), 13,256 people were supported for readmission to the US while they awaited their court hearing.
At the same time, almost 29,000 people from 10 states were internally displaced in massive episodes, according to the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, almost three times more than in 2020. The main causes were criminal violence in states such as Chihuahua , Michoacán, Guerrero and Sinaloa, and intra- and inter-community conflicts in Chiapas and Oaxaca.
help refugees
Thus, in 2021 UNHCR and its legal partners helped almost 60,000 refugees and asylum seekers, of whom nearly 10,000 received legal representation. More than 3,000 people benefited from legal assistance during their refugee status determination process.
In addition, it supported 148 shelters in 44 cities, both to monitor their needs and to improve reception conditions, a task that was carried out together with other United Nations agencies and other international organizations.