The flow of migrants crossing Mexican territory to the United States is increasing again despite an initial drop after the end of Title 42warned this Monday Dana Graber Ladek, head of mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Mexico, in an interview with EFE.
In the weeks after (the end of Title 42) about 50% of the people who were crossing the Darién, the jungle between Colombia and Panama, fewer were crossing into Mexico, but now we are seeing a gradual increase in people, in flows that they are coming again”, assured the directive.
For Graber Ladek, This situation responds to the fact that migrants hope to cross into the United States, believing that it will be easier than when Title 42 was in force.a US measure that ended on May 12 and that immediately expelled migrants on the grounds of the pandemic, now replaced with Title 8 and greater restrictions on legal asylum.
Just at the end of May, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, boasted that after the end of the US immigration policy, the number of migrants on the border between the two countries had fallen to almost 150,000 in the month, about 100,000 less than at the end of 2022.
Worrying outlook
The international official expressed IOM’s concern about the increase in mobility, as she explained that, according to the Surveys on Migration on the North and South Borders of Mexico (EMIF North and EMIF South) prepared from July to November 2022, there were also the “coyotes” (migrant smugglers) have risen.
At least 50% of people or five out of 10 are using a coyote or a smuggler to cross Mexico,” he said.
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The IOM surveys, he recalled, reflect the consequences of the last two years of health and migration policies that prevailed in the pandemic.
Among the changes, he indicated, is also the increase in costs to get to the United States, since the so-called “coyotes”, he explained, now charge up to 30,000 dollars for the work.
It is a very lucrative business, many times it goes hand in hand with drug trafficking, human trafficking obviously and also arms trafficking. They are the same criminal organizations that are handling this crime, ”he explained.
Poverty and violence continue in Latin America: Reasons why migration will continue to rise
One of the main concerns of organizations such as the IOM is the underlying reasons why people continue to migraterevealed Graber Ladek.
The causes and conditions in the communities of origin have not changed: extreme poverty, natural disasters, climate change, widespread violence, lack of access to education and medical services for families, so as long as we have (these problems) in the countries of origin, we are going to see migration”, he emphasized.
In fact, according to another IOM report, Violence is the main cause that displaces people in Mexicomainly towards the north of the country.
The three main states where the internally displaced people we interviewed come from (are) Michoacán, Guerrero and Chiapas, and we recognize that these three states have problems in terms of violence,” he warned.
In addition, he highlighted that another finding of his surveys is that of the people displaced in the interior of the country, at least 21% have a missing family member, which reflects the very complicated situation of this problem.
However, he qualified that the fact that the Mexican government officially recognizes internal displacement opens a space to “talk about the issue, develop programs and interventions to support the population.”
This is extremely important because it also goes hand in hand with the prevention of violence and the protection of immigrants”, he deepened.
Migration is not a ‘political tool’
Given the political tension in Mexico and the United States for the upcoming 2024 presidential elections, the official hoped that migration would not be used as a “political tool.”
It’s not fair. The two governments on this path towards the elections have to remember that we need to manage the immigration situation (the) in a safe, regular, orderly, dignified manner, and not use it as a way to criminalize a very vulnerable population”, he concluded.
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