The Mexican government has halted a program for considering temporary asylum requests for people arriving at its southern border after more than 12,600 people — mostly from Central America — applied for visas to remain in Mexico just in the past two weeks, according to a new report.

Mexico’s Institute of National Migration announced this week it has filed 12,574 requests on behalf of adults seeking refuge in the country. It approved roughly one-third of those applications and has issued 4,750 visitor cards for people to legally reside and work in southern Mexico, the agency said in a statement.