JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – Mexico received a record number of refugee requests in 2023, as thousands of migrants passing through the country sought protection from deportation.
Mexican Refugee Commission (COMAR) Director Andres Ramirez Silva said this week a total of 140,982 foreign nationals filed for refugee status last year, an 18.2% increase over 2022 and 8.8% more than in 2021.
The bulk of the requests came from Haitians (44,239), Hondurans (41,935), Cubans (18,385), Salvadorans (6,117) and Guatemalans (6,111), according to Ramirez. Only 5,517 Venezuelans – who are showing up in considerable numbers in El Paso, Texas, since September 2022 – sought this protection.
“In 2023, every COMAR office except Nuevo Leon and Coahuila saw more petitioners for refugee protection than ever,” Ramirez said on social media.
Petitioners receive a document proving they have registered their stay with the Mexican government and may additionally receive an ID-type humanitarian visa (TVRH) or a Unique Population Registration Code (CURP). Ramirez tweeted that 86% of those who have requested refugee status in previous years were granted a document.
Mexican officials said such documents protect migrants from those who would use the threat of turning them in to authorities to extort money or exploit them.
“Mobility status has to eventually come to an end because it is a state of vulnerability that doesn’t guarantee stability for families, it doesn’t guarantee and education (for their children). What we want is for their immigration process to move forward,” said Santiago Gonzalez Reyes, head of Juarez’s Human Rights Office.
Gonzalez said his office serves as a liaison between the migrants and available jobs in Juarez and educates them about other services that may be available to them in Mexico. He said stability is important for migrants while they decide whether to stay in Mexico, wait to decide, or move on. Some may need such stability until they secure a CBP One online appointment in the United States.
Some of these cards and permits, however, end up at the border wall when individuals give up on the wait and enter the U.S. between ports of entry, according to multiple news media reports.
NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley posted photos of foreigners’ Mexican-issued cards strewn about the ground with names and photographs of the bearer scratched off. This was allegedly done to keep U.S. authorities from finding out they requested refugee status in another country prior to arriving in the United States.
(ProVideo contributed to this report.)
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