The International Organization for Migration (IOM) This Friday the record of irregular migration in Mexico in 2023 was highlighted, although observed a decrease in the flow on the border with the United States in January of this year.
This was expressed by the organization’s deputy head of mission in the country, Jeremy MacGillivray, in a press conference in which he cited that, in 2023, Mexican authorities registered 782,176 events of people in an irregular immigration situation, 77% more than a year before.
In 2022 there were 441,409 events and, together, both years represent higher figures than those recorded before the covid-19 pandemic, in 2019, when 182,940 cases were registered.
However, the deputy head of mission acknowledged that, in January 2024, there was a decrease in the migratory flow between Mexico and the United States, although it increased the following month.
“(According to) data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in January they fell 42%, but in February they rose again by 8%,” he said.
These figures come a few weeks after the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, celebrated a reduction “by half” of the average daily migration that arrives at the United States border.
Specifically, 54.8% between December and March, as the president noted during his morning press conference on March 26.
In the president’s opinion, this migratory decline would be justified by social programs such as Young People Building the Future, for professional apprentices, and Sowing Life, for farmers, as well as by the policies of the US president, Joe Biden.
“Beware of quick conclusions”
MacGillivray warned that “we must be careful about drawing conclusions too quickly,” since a monthly decrease or increase does not mean that it becomes a trend and there are “many factors” that influence human mobility.
He also noted that the CBP One mobile application, which allows you to get an appointment at the border with United States authorities, “has influenced how people move through Mexico.”
“We have seen a change in recent months: people arrive less at the northern border without a CBP One. (…) Even if they are irregularly in Mexico, if they have an appointment, they can transit to the northern border and people knows that he doesn’t have to be there to apply,” he explained.
On the other hand, he acknowledged that, since September 2023, the IOM has observed “an increase in migration control” by the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM).
Paradoxically, “deportations from Mexico to countries of origin have decreased, despite an increase in the total number of people entering and this increase in control.”
➡️Join the El Sol de México channel on WhatsApp so you don’t miss the most important information
Migrants from Africa, Haiti and Ecuador grow
During the conference, the IOM presented the ‘Annual Bulletin of Migration Statistics in Mexico for 2023’, which reveals an increase in people from Senegal, Haiti and Ecuador in transit through the country.
“The total of these increased 1,990%, 901% and 220%,” says the report, which adds that, for the second consecutive year, “Ecuador appears as one of the main registered nationalities.”
Regarding migrants who tried to cross the border with the United States, 36% were from Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras.
The study also highlights a 60% increase in the events of girls, boys and adolescents in an irregular migratory situation compared to 2022, going from 71,206 to 113,660.
All this data is collected in an interactive dashboard created between the IOM and the Migration Policy, Registration and Identity of Persons Unit of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob) of the federal Executive.
In the words of the project manager, Ángeles Medellín, this tool seeks to “facilitate access to timely, reliable and reliable statistics on migration”