In The Midst Of Tariff Tensions, Mexico Faces Immigration Crisis

By Rodrigo Cervantes
Published: Friday, June 7, 2019 - 3:46pm
Updated: Saturday, June 8, 2019 - 2:06pm
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico reached an agreement with the U.S. to avoid tariffs, but is feeling the pressure on its Southern border: an increasing volume of people crossing from Central America is becoming harder to manage.

The Mexican government is reinforcing its migration policies and operations by stopping caravans and increasing the deportations and detentions of unregistered migrants.

But this won’t be enough, according to Edgar Corzo, who is in charge of migration issues at Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH, for its acronym in Mexico).

"There is a very important increase on the flow of migrants in Mexico, but we are not seeing any growth in infrastructure nor in resources to address that," Corzo said.

According to Corzo, the situation could worsen if more caravans arrive.

"What we are seeing is a change from a merely an open door policy, to one that includes detention, as well," the expert said.

Corzo said trying to solve the migrant overpopulation by just stopping caravans is like trying to stop a hemorrhage with a Band-Aid.

"There is already an overcrowd of migratory stations, and there is a protocol for those circumstances, but in the CNDH we see that sometimes the authorities do not apply it," Corzo said.

The expert said migration will hardly decrease if the Trump administration keeps coercing Mexico while denying support to Central America.

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