Published 13:43 IST, October 19th 2019
Mexicans seeking Asylum in the United States of America has increased
The USA has witnessed an increase in the number of Mexicans seeking asylum in their country as Mexicans have eclipsed the number of Central American refugees
The United States of America has witnessed an increase in the number of Mexicans seeking asylum in their country as Mexicans have eclipsed the number of Central Americans who seek refuge in the US. Numerous arrests across the American borders have declined in the wake of new policies in relation to the people seeking asylum.
A rise in asylum-seeking Mexicans
In an example, a Mexican by the name of Lizbeth Garcia alongwith her 3-year-old son waited outside a tent set up on a sidewalk as they waited for their turn to claim asylum in the US border crossing in El Paso, Texas. Lizbeth and her family left Mexico and came to the US to seek refuge as they could not pay up the criminal gangs when they came to collect money.
A rule that stops different countries from sending back asylum seekers to countries where they will probably be ill-treated has saved Mexicans from a policy that came into effect to make refugees stay put in Mexico while their respective cases go through the immigration courts. They have also been exempted from a policy that denies any asylum seeker to come to the American border from a different country without first applying for asylum.
"Northern Triangle" nations
Mexico continued to be the country that witnessed a lot of people going on to the other side of the border in an unlawful way or who were halted at border crossings. According to reports, Mexicans represented almost all illegal border crossings in the last 10 years as more individuals from Central America's "Northern Triangle" nations chose to escape unrest and a hostile environment.
Although a few Mexicans are crossing the borders as compared to the numbers that were recorded in the month of May, yet a steep drop has been witnessed in the case of Central American refugees, making Mexicans the highest number of people coming in, as per U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures.
Mexicans captured or halted at the border fell 8%. However, border crossings were down 80% from Guatemala, 63% from Honduras and 62% from El Salvador during a similar period. According to reports, people going as families represented 23% of all Mexicans captured or stopped at the borders in the month of August, a significant move from previous immigration waves when almost all Mexicans came as single men.
Another significant change was that 36% of Mexicans presented themselves at official outposts at border crossings, the official way of following the U.S. government's set rules to claim asylum as compared to the previous instances where people tried to cross the border illegally.
Restricted space for asylum-seeking families
The U.S. government has restricted space for families and according to a federal court settlement, must release families within a span of 20 days. Asylum-seeking families have been allowed to go in the United States with an ankle monitor on the head of the family and a notice to show up in immigration courts, where cases can take a very long time to get sorted out and that changed for everybody aside from Mexicans with the new U.S. restrains on asylum and its arrangement to make refugees hold up in Mexico, officially called the "Migrant Protection Protocols" and in other words "Stay in Mexico."
(With inputs from agencies)
Updated 18:24 IST, October 19th 2019