Fabiola Martinez
Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday December 3, 2022, p. eleven
The flow of migrants seeking refuge in Mexico registers three consecutive months on the rise.
Last November was placed as the period with the most demand during the current year, with 13,217 requests for refuge, one of the alternatives most used by foreigners to avoid repatriation.
Although Honduras continues to lead, with 29,390 cases from January to November, migrants from Cuba are close to the highest point, with 17,487 requests in that period. In previous years the difference between the two groups was much greater.
It is followed by Haiti, with 15,780 files, and Venezuela, with 12,998, so far in 2022.
In the table prepared by the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) located below are citizens of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
The cumulative of all nationalities, from January to November, reached 111,257 applications, barely 18,536 less than the historical record registered last year, which could be broken if the increase in flow continues, mainly of migrants trying to reach or stay in the United States.
If the comparison is made by months, from 2020 to date, the most critical period has been September 2021, with 17,487 requests for protection from the Mexican State.
Most of the procedures captured by Comar are carried out at its office in Tapachula, Chiapas, one of the main gateways to the country, especially irregularly.
Although in Mexico it is not a crime to transit without the documents established by law, but an administrative offense, the authorities keep a record of all the people detected in this circumstance, either to repatriate them, deport them or grant them some alternative protection, such as humanitarian visa.
Venezuelans have the highest rate of positive responses to stay in the country, as refugee applicants, since 93 out of 100 are accepted, while in the case of Hondurans the ratio is 90 out of 100. Cubans register a rate 49 percent positivity.
