Fernando Camacho Servin
Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday July 2, 2022, p. 7
The death of dozens of migrants in a trailer in San Antonio, Texas, shows that the flow of Mexicans trying to enter the United States without documents has not stopped and has even been increasing for at least two years, largely due to the intensification of the economic crisis generated by the covid-19 pandemic.
Specialists warned that the tightening of immigration policies in the United States and Mexico has been one of the factors that forces thousands of people to seek more dangerous routes. This has only benefited criminal trafficking groups, they stressed.
Ana Saiz, director of the civil organization Without Borders, pointed out that the authorities of both countries have failed to comply with international agreements that would allow safe and orderly migration, which has forced many to take risks. inhumane way
due to poverty, insecurity and lack of opportunities in their country of origin.
The trend is very clear. In two years, (the migration of Mexicans to the United States) increased 200 percent, and this has to do with the lack of economic reactivation and support during the pandemic, the wage gap, and the lack of access to justice. When we have gone to Tijuana to talk with asylum-seeking families, half are Mexican
he indicated.
Leticia Calderón Chelius, researcher and academic at the Mora Institute, agreed that for about a year and a half we have seen a rebound in migration (of Mexicans
, coinciding with the harmful economic and social effects generated by the pandemic. “In Mexico there was a whole discussion about ‘zero migration’. The idea that the migration had stopped, but that never happened. What there was was a statistical stabilization related to our demographics. In the six-year terms of Calderón and Peña there was talk of that supposed drop, but it continued to be about 100,000 people a year on average, and up to 400,000 at its peak.
They agreed that although temporary work or family reunification visas could alleviate this scenario, the measure is very limited; they are granted after procedures that can last many years, which only favors criminals of trafficking.
