INM reduced issuance of Visitor Cards for Humanitarian Reasons by 97%

Jessica Xantomila and Jared Laureles

La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, December 24, 2024, p. 5

The National Migration Institute (INM) this year reduced by 97 percent the issuance of Visitor Cards for Humanitarian Reasons (TVRH) for foreigners who require them and are seeking refuge or were victims of a crime in Mexico, as well as unaccompanied minor migrants.

Even though the Migration Law establishes that these populations have the right to have said document that allows them to have a regular stay in the country, between January and October 2024 the INM issued only 3,457 TVRH, while in the same period of the year Last year it totaled 128,737, according to official data.

The total number of cards for 2024 does not match the number of people who could access them, since according to the records of the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar), until last November there were 73,317 refugee applicants, who with their records requesting this condition have the feasibility of processing this document, valid for one year, and with it accessing formal jobs and other health and education services.

The drop in TVRH broadcasting began at the end of last year, after the then head of the Ministry of the Interior (SG), Luisa María Alcalde, instructed that its broadcast be reduced as a measure to contain migration in one of the most critical moments of this phenomenon, according to sources consulted.

However, organizations defending the rights of people in need of international protection have documented that this affects thousands of refugee seekers, who are forced to process protection and file complaints with the National Human Rights Commission to obtain the card. Because without it they run the risk of being detained and even deported to their countries of origin, from where many have fled due to violence.

Arbitrary answers

Axel González, lawyer at the Alaíde Foppa Legal Clinic for Refugees, of the Ibero-American University, who has accompanied refugee applicants who have been denied TVRH, assured that the institute’s actions violates the Immigration Law and its regulationswhich recognize the right that people have to access this document.

In an interview, he explained that to justify his refusals, the INM staff takes advantage of ignorance of foreigners:

Currently, Immigration only gives them a document that authorizes the TRVH, but does not give it to them and tells them that this document is enough, when it is totally false; or they argue that there is no budget to issue them or that they must wait for Comar to recognize them as refugeeshe explained.

These responses, González stressed, They are arbitrary and none are provided for in the law. Furthermore, as a result of this lack of documentation, he stated, We have seen that asylum seekers in Mexico cannot find work, they do not receive medical care, nor are they allowed to access bank accounts and enter schools, which are their basic rights..

According to statistical data from the Migration Policy, Registration and Identity of Persons Unit of the SG, from January to October 2024 the INM delivered between 168 and 556 cards per month, mostly in Chiapas (1,281), Oaxaca (519), Mexico City (311), the state of Mexico (249) and Morelos (109).

Regarding nationalities, the cards were issued mainly to citizens of Central America (1,088), Cuba (784), Ecuador (500) and Venezuela (395).

Regarding the reason for the issuance of the TRVH, of the 3,457 delivered, only 15.99 percent were for people seeking refuge; 3.15 for unaccompanied migrant children; 5.55 to victims or witnesses of a crime, and 17.64 percent to foreigners with public interest, that is, who support relief or rescue actions in emergency situations in Mexico.

Meanwhile, 57.65 percent were delivered to foreigners whose health or life is at risk, to those who have a direct relative in the custody of the Mexican State and their authorization is needed to provide medical or psychological assistance or for the recognition or recovery of the corpse, as well as as well as those who need to assist a direct family member in a serious state of health.

González pointed out that the authorities argued that the decrease in the delivery of cards was because many migrants were misusing from it to transit through Mexico in order to reach the northern border; However, he assured, this happened because the lack of real mechanisms to regularize the immigration status of people.