MEXICO CITY – Applications for refugee status in Mexico have roughly tripled this year compared with last year, the government said yesterday, in the face of a relentless influx of United States-bound migrants.
The Latin American nation has received 123,187 requests this year, up from 41,230 last year, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters, describing the increase as “enormous”.
The government and the United Nations were supporting the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance to deal with a backlog of applications, he said, adding that the organisation needed more personnel and funding.
Mexico has a relatively simple asylum process and approves more than 95% of applications, Ebrard added.
In recent months, tens of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence have arrived in Mexico, where many are seeking asylum while waiting to try to enter the US.
Human traffickers commonly hide undocumented migrants in trucks bringing them from Guatemala into Mexico, from where they head north to the US border.
Underscoring the dangers facing them, a horrific road accident on December 9 left 56 undocumented migrants dead after the truck transporting them overturned.
More than 190,000 undocumented foreigners were detected in Mexico between January and September, according to authorities.
Some 74,300 were deported. – AFP, December 22, 2021
