Yes
It has been one year since closure of the northern border, one of Donald Trump’s campaign promises was fully fulfilled. So much so that the numerous border patrol no longer has as much work and they have been sent north, to create chaos in Minneapolis. Also, we could say, that the southern border was closed, the flow of migrants arriving in Chiapas has radically decreased. In that entity, 402 thousand migrants were detained in 2024, while in 2025 there were only 35 thousand, a decrease of 91 percent. Likewise, the numbers of detainees on a national scale, the Mexican immigration detained 1.2 million migrants in 2024 and in 2025 only 145 thousand. A decrease of 88 percent. African migration was radically cut off, as was South American migration that passed through the Darien Gap in Panama. Even Latin American migrants transiting back to their countries of origin have been documented.
However, many were left stranded in Mexico, those who applied for the legal route of entry to refuge, with the CBP1 application; the foreigners deported to Mexico, illegally, but tolerated, and the stragglers who decided to stay in the country and will not risk going to the other side.
We could say that they are no longer a population in transit or floating, because their perspective changed and they want, or have, to stay in Mexico. We cannot cover our eyes and do nothing, there are tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands. Which is possible, given that in one year more than a million migrants passed through Mexico.
Regularization is urgently needed for humanitarian, political and practical reasons. Leaving a migrant population in limbo is irresponsible, given that what is generated is a population in an irregular situation and in a vulnerable situation, unable to be hired due to lack of papers, living in permanent anguish and even begging.
The political reasons are obvious, while on one side they repress, persecute, punish and kill, on the other they accept the reality that there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of migrants who want to stay in Mexico. The practical reasons are obvious. You cannot have people in camps, in saturated migrant houses, standing in endless lines and delaying, on purpose, the documentation and regularization processes. In the past, but also in the present, Mexico has been generous in granting refuge. In the last five years, Mexico has recognized a quarter of a million refugees. In numerical terms it is the largest in history and very little is publicly recognized, nor has it been made explicit. But circumstances have changed and UNHCR and Comar do not have international financing and have had to reduce their staff.
In previous times, Mexico has implemented regularization programs for undocumented immigrants, but they go unnoticed, possibly to avoid creating a “call effect.” All that is good, but we must set an example today, in 2026, and it must be publicized and announced. Simply because we have 5 million compatriots who are persecuted, beaten, deported, and some have even died in immigration detention centers.
There is an urgent need for an amnesty, a regularization, a humanitarian visa program, whatever it is, give it a name, set an example and fix the situation of hundreds of thousands of migrants who already live, work and want to stay in Mexico. But, above all, they are not going to return. That could be a clear example of what they call “Mexican humanism”; a political stance with global impact and an efficient humanitarian, political and practical solution, in the face of a reality that we cannot ignore. A policy with a sensitive head, aimed at the neighbor.
In 2015, in Germany, Angela Merkel not only regularized migrants who were in her territory, but also opened the doors to Syrians who were stranded in other countries. More than a million foreigners without papers were regularized, against European rulings and against the nationalist right.
In addition to a humanitarian measure, it gave Germany an important adjustment to its battered demographic situation, an aging country that requires labor and people to support social security.
Currently, Spain sets an example with a proposal to regularize half a million migrants in an irregular situation. A proposal without distinctions of gender, race or nationality. An example for governments that say they are, or are, left-wing, because these measures are not implemented by the right, rather it boycotts them.
Spain is the only country in Europe that grows at a rate of 2.8 percent, while the average for countries is 1.2. The government recognizes the positive impact of immigration on its economy and society and that is precisely why it proposes a generous, but at the same time interested, regularization. Not only that, it advertises it and makes a difference.
