Central American immigrants who for years have entered the United States illegally are now stopping short of the border in Mexico to seek refuge and asylum, worried that President Trump’s policies will land them in jail or back home.
Reports in local newspapers and from the Center for Immigration Studies suggest that the slowdown in illegal border crossings are due to those from countries south of Mexico deciding to seek refuge or asylum in Mexico.
And Mexico appears open to accepting them in much bigger numbers.
“The radicalization of some measures with the new U.S. government makes us think that the number of applications will increase,” said Mexican Undersecretary of Migration, Humberto Roque Villanueva, according to the Honduran newspaper La Tribuna.
“As the Trump administration tightens immigration enforcement, Central Americans are increasingly opting to apply for refugee status in Mexico,” added CIS in a report drawing attention to the La Tribuna analysis.
The shift to seeking refuge in Mexico by those from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala stepped into high gear last year as U.S. immigration policies changed and Trump’s election looked possible.
“Last year nearly 9,000 people sought refuge and by 2017 the figure could be more than double. The rate of positive responses rose from 46 percent in 2015 to 63 percent in 2016,” said the newspaper.
One El Salvadoran told the paper that the goal was reaching the United States, but Mexico will have to do. “We all preferred the United States, but little by little … all the people are staying” in Mexico, “in part” because of Trump, he said.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
