Without fear of being wrong, I am sure that no person undertakes a journey of thousands of kilometers along a land route that crosses a good part of the Mexican territory from south to north for the simple pleasure of it. The reasons have been stated countless times: fleeing violence, better income, better quality of life; in short, the hackneyed “American dream”.
Now, how many of these migrants will think of an “American dream made in Mexico”? According to official data, very few. Last year, the United States Customs and Border Protection Office detected more than 1.7 million undocumented immigrants on the border with Mexico, and although this is not a precise number of the migratory flow towards the northern neighbor, it is a good reference.
Similarly, the Refugee Aid Commission (COMAR) reported that last year 131,448 people formally requested asylum to remain in Mexico; It is worth mentioning that approximately 40% of this group are Haitians. In other words, taking both figures as a reference, less than 10% of the migrants who arrive in Mexico think of our country as a definitive option to put down roots.
This situation invites the logical question, why? Why risk your own life, that of family members, including children, on a journey full of danger if Mexico is an option to live? or not?
The figures of the wave of violence that the country is experiencing give us the first answer. Within the 50 cities with the most intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, Mexico has 18 places, including the first eight. Most of the migrants who cross Mexico are Central Americans, and within their cities only San Pedro Sula (Honduras) is on the list, and in position 32.
If we add to the number of homicides that in Mexico there are more than 100,000 missing persons, 97% of them occurring since 2006, our country does not present itself as a place that can provide peace of mind to migrants.
From the economic point of view, there is no point of comparison with the opportunities that the United States offer can represent, with all the risks that reaching the American union implies.
A couple who manages to cross into Texas can earn $3,000 a month (approximately 60,000 pesos), in one of the states with the lowest minimum wage in the country. Although the cost of living is much higher on the other side of the border, the possibility of being able to support relatives in their countries of origin is much more feasible than with a salary of 750 dollars (15,000 pesos) that the same couple for the same job on our floor.
Migrating is not an easy decision, even in the best of circumstances. Probably those who do it from Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti or Nicaragua are aware that it is a bet in which their lives are at stake. Mexico is on his path, but it is just that, a path, because his bet is beyond the Rio Grande. Unfortunately, the cards that Mexico offers today to migrants are to pass.