The migrants stranded in Mexico after Trump padlocked the doors to the United States are trying to make a place for themselves in Aztec soil, both working and seeking asylum before the competent authority. With the so-called American Dream on pause, it is Mexico or nothing for them right now, although some Venezuelans want to return home. The southern border city of Tapachula is employing some migrants under a Chiapas state program. At the same time, they complete their paperwork with the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR in Spanish), which has been overwhelmed by the flood of individuals crowding its offices across the country daily in a push to regularize their status. The government lacks alternatives to the asylum for migrants though President Claudia Sheinbaum has promised "humanitarian assistance".
Until Trump´s disturbing return for a second term in the West Wing, most migrants would bypass COMAR and simply wait for their CBP One-powered appointment to present themselves at an official port of entry in the southwest U.S. border. Sound data is backing this claim. For example, more than 300,000 migrants passed through the Darién Gap in 2024, yet fewer than 79,000 applications for refugee status were filed in Mexico. And you don´t have in that figure concerning the Darién Gap stage those starting their journey in Nicaragua, like the Cubans. The Aztec authorities themselves acknowledge that between January and August of last year, they processed more than 925,000 people with an “irregular migratory situation”.
By the end of December 2024, 8 out of 10 resolved cases of applications for refugee status in Mexico were approved or received complementary protection. The latter withholds their removal on compelling life-threatening grounds. Incidentally, anyone whose application was denied could use that decision as a justification to rebut the presumption of ineligibility for asylum that hung over those entering into the United States as of May 2023, reinforced by the declaration of “emergency border circumstances” in June 2024. These were measures attached to Biden's effort to stem the crisis at the border, favoring those who availed themselves of certain “lawful pathways”—essentially the disbanded CBP One program—which the Republican/MAGA narrative never accepted as such.
SourceIn the new context, Mexican authorities appear to have raised the bar for refugee status applicants on the understanding that most are seeking pure economic growth and therefore do not meet the specific requirements for refugee status. This, although Mexican law is much more open than U.S. in that it accepts as refugees those fleeing contexts marked by generalized violence, internal conflict, massive human rights violations “or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public order”. This definition matches the conditions of many countries in Latin America, such as Haiti and Honduras, with the best approval rates for refugee status applications from their nationals (9 out of 10 are approved or obtain complementary protection).
Among those who are now availing themselves of the options provided by Tapachula is a Cuban presenting himself as a victim of sexual discrimination on the island, and who sees good in the opportunity he has to "collaborate" in cleaning and “beautification” of the referred city. “Because of my sexual orientation, in my country, we have no job opportunities, wherever we go the police harass us, they accuse us of prostitution if they see us dressed as women”, said the Cuban appealing to a well-elaborated narrative to defend a refugee case but which, in my opinion, distorts the Cuban reality somewhat. Despite what may be lacking in terms of recognition and assimilation, I do not believe that he will necessarily find less discrimination in Mexico because of his sexual orientation than he did in his homeland, where this is not a practice instituted by the State.
Las oficinas de Comar en Tapachula, Chiapas, se encuentran desbordadas. Migrantes llevan meses tramitando una tarjeta de residencia temporal. #EnPunto con @JLANoticias | #DecideInformado | Síguelo por https://t.co/JpgbIc5YLX pic.twitter.com/HSWeN9t2jj
— NMás (@nmas) January 31, 2025
But there are still migrants dreaming of the United States, such as a Salvadoran woman who is part of the umpteenth caravan leaving Tapachula, seeking to attract the attention of the authorities and speed up the regularization of its members in the country. “I go step by step, calmly, because I know that [this border closure situation] is going to pass. We are waiting for the 'tide to go out' because since I left my house, I said that [the United States] was the goal, but these problems arose and I hope to God that everything will pass and we are patient, we are not in a hurry,” the Salvadoran woman told EFE from the municipality of Zanatepec, Oaxaca state.
Another Salvadoran woman who left her three children in Nayib Bukele's kingdom with the promise of building them a house, criticized the management of the Zanatepec authorities, who gave them a space in the open to rest on Wednesday night, although with a makeshift tarp as a roof to protect them from the aggressive sun. By the way, are the cases of these two women telling us something about El Salvador? Embroiled in a broad anti-immigrant and anti-spending crusade, the Trump administration has not yet provided any concrete process so that at least from Mexican territory asylum cases can be filed as part of the reinstated “Remain in Mexico” policy.
SourceLatam via X
Latino workers working to overcome a technological divide brought on by automation, AI https://t.co/cpmqv35XzR
— The Independent (@Independent) February 9, 2025
Another road tragedy 👇.
Accident involving bus in southern Mexico killed 41, authorities say https://t.co/rww3cfM1re pic.twitter.com/H8KGQ6xmHu
— Reuters World (@ReutersWorld) February 9, 2025
The calm after a serious warning 👇.
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake shakes the Caribbean, some islands urge residents to leave coastlines https://t.co/OTamx29oD2
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) February 9, 2025
