Refugee requests have multiplied in Mexico since Trump’s first term

After being sworn in for the second time as president, Donald Trump signed several executive orders with anti-immigrant measures such as shielding its border with Mexico with the construction of more walls and the deployment of more military troops.

In addition, the Republican canceled appointments through the CBP One application for people seeking asylum in the United States and gave the green light to increase anti-immigrant operations in schools and churches.

At the end of last week, the United States deployed troops to the border with Mexico and military planes began removing migrants without legal status from the country.

More asylum applications

The new immigration policy of the United States could lead to an even greater increase in immigrants who, seeing their path to the ‘American dream’ cut short, choose to remain in Mexico and not return to their countries, says Andrés Ramírez Silva, former official of the Alto United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Many of the people who arrived knew that from Mexico they could request an appointment to be interviewed on the North American side of the border and request asylum in the United States.

“At the moment when CBP One is dismantled, now with Trump entering the Oval Office, it is evident that many of these people who thought they would have this opportunity and, not having it, will find no choice but to seek asylum in Mexico” , he explains in an interview.

With the cancellation of CBP One, around 270,000 migrants were stranded in Mexico and already had an appointment, according to the media. CBS News who consulted US government sources.

A second factor is in Trump’s decision to reestablish the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program, whose official name is the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), with which asylum seekers are forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for the resolution of their immigration process before the US Government.

This is accompanied by the extreme statements of the president of the United States, who is supported by a cabinet with the same orientation. “They are prone to having a very anti-immigrant policy, very radical against asylum, with a quite xenophobic discourse,” says Ramírez.

For the migration expert, who was head of the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) during the six-year term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the points where greater tension could arise due to the increase in immigrants would be cities on the northern border such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarezas well as on the southern border if the Mexican Government continues with its containment policy.

“A blockage will be generated in the south and this of course leads to a greater concentration of migrants who wanted to transit but cannot because there is increasing containment or of people seeking international protection from Comar,” he points out.