Asylum applications in Mexico have decreased by almost half in 2024, 78,975 asylum seekers or refugees in 2024, a reduction of about 44% after a record level the previous year (140,720), according to data from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR).

Honduras 27,888, Cuba (17,884), Haiti (10,853), El Salvador (5,479), Venezuela (5,419), Guatemala (3,725), Colombia (2,315), Ecuador (1,048), Nicaragua (940) and Chile (817), the rest comes from other nations not detailed.

However, COMAR analyzed less than half of the applicants, or 33,844, of which 25,045 (74%) were approved, according to the annual report.

On the other hand, irregular migration is reaching historic levels that keep the southern border saturated. The Migration Policy Unit detected more than 925,000 migrants in this situation from January to August 2024, an annual increase of almost 132% in irregular migration in Mexico, more than in any other full year.

Migratory saturation persists in Tapachula, the largest city on Mexico's border with Central America, where almost two-thirds of the country's cases are concentrated, with 50,742 migrants throughout the year.

Hector Martínez Estrada, an activist with the Collective of Human Rights Defenders on the Southern Border, said "it is not so much migration that has decreased, it is migrants who stop going to COMAR because the waiting times are long (the law provides for 45 days to respond), but migrants are in a hurry to move to the United States before the policies of the next President Donald Trump, such as the end of the "lCBP One application to manage an immigration appointment."

The human rights activist denounced that, despite the decrease in requests, the response of the authorities has not improved "There are people who have been there for a very long time" In addition, migrants are debating whether to stay in Mexico or leave, the Mexican government has promised to effectively help those who seek to stay in Mexico, but has refused to grant asylum to those who only want to obtain the necessary papers to travel to the United States.

S/ HaitiLibre