According to official figures, Mexico recognizes only two out of every 10 migrants who request refuge, that is, of 341,779 people who requested refuge in our country, from 2013 to last April, only 76,818 (22%) have been granted such status.
These data are part of the migration crisis facing the region and a declining budget of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar), since regardless of the fact that refugee applications have been increasing, economic resources have not grown. in the same proportion.
This is how, of the 341,779 cases of people who have requested refuge in our country, between 2013 and April 2022, some 224,469 (65.6%) have not even been analyzed.
Migrants from Honduras are the ones who have been recognized the most as refugees with 33,721 cases.
They are followed by Venezuelans (19,379); Salvadorans (11,550); Cubans (4,022) and Guatemalans (2,949).
In the case of Haitians, whose migration to Mexico is on the rise, it stands out that 98% of their analyzed refugee applications have been rejected. Of the 11,455 cases studied by Comar, only 2,229 were recognized as refugees, plus another 1,618 who were granted complementary protection.
Andrés Ramírez, head of Comar, announced that in the 3 years and 5 months of this administration, 78.55% of the total petitions analyzed in the last 9 years and 4 months have been resolved. In other words, of 117,310 cases that have been resolved, —whether in a positive or negative sense or that they have been granted complementary protection—, the current government attended to 92,147 of these cases.
Of the total cases analyzed, 65.4% have been positive, and about 32,040 (27.3%) have been rejected for not complying with the assumptions established by law to access refuge, which range from having fears of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, gender, etc., until it is verified that he has fled his country due to situations of violence or that have seriously disturbed public order.
rising requests
According to figures from Comar, between January and April, the number of migrants who have requested refuge in Mexico increased 27%, compared to the same period in 2021, going from 31,522 cases to 40,026, which means a new maximum. history for the period.
The migrants who so far lead the refugee requests are from Honduras (8,848); Cuba (8,445), Haiti (6,627) and Venezuela (4,270); Other countries on the list of procedures are Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, Senegal and Colombia, among others.
Andrés Ramírez, head of Comar, added that this year, due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, there is an increase in applicants for refugee status from these countries. From 2013 to 2021, an annual average of four Ukrainians and 10 Russians applied. In 2022, at the end of April, they have requested 70 and 86 respectively.
He also explained that, after barely the first third of 2022, people of 93 nationalities from the five continents have already applied for refugee status in Mexico.
In the US there is also a crisis
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) of the United States Department of Justice has become increasingly unable to adjudicate the hundreds of thousands of cases it receives from immigrants in time for immigration courts. seeking US protection, documented a US Congressional Inquiry.
The accumulation of pending cases, it was detailed, is on the rise. And it is that at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 (December 2021), the accumulation of cases reached a historical maximum of 1.5 million files, with only 578 judges for analysis.
The report noted that because of the delay, some people must wait years for their cases to be resolved.
Said report pointed out that among the factors associated with the delay of the immigration courts are the lack of resources and personnel; coupled with the postponements of the hearings due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
INM retains 1,608 people from 38 countries
The National Migration Institute (INM) reported that on May 6 it detained 1,608 people who came from 38 countries.
“Of this total, 1,398 are elderly people (424 women and 974 men) and 210 minors (82 women and 128 men), who remained under the guardianship and protection of the System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF) in the entity. in which they were rescued”, indicated the INM.
Of the minors, detailed the Migration body, 158 (69 women and 89 men) were accompanied by an adult, while 52 traveled alone (13 women and 39 men).
“Of the total number of migrants rescued, 374 occurred in Chiapas; Lower California, 262; New Leon 199; Mexico City, 168; Tabasco, 152; Coahuila, 111; Tamaulipas, 97; Veracruz, 50; San Luis Potosi, 47; Quintana Roo, 26; Sound, 22; Oaxaca, 20; Puebla, 18; Chihuahua, 18; Durango, 17; Tlaxcala, 8; Yucatan, 6; Jalisco, 5; Zacatecas, 5; Sinaloa, 2 and Colima, 1”, he referred.
The main nationalities of the people detained by the Mexican authorities were Guatemala (357); Honduras (296); Colombia (195); Cuba (189) and Nicaragua. (Drafting)