Mexico City, Dec 21 (AFP/APP):Applications for refugee status in Mexico have roughly tripled this year compared with 2020, the government said Tuesday, in the face of a relentless influx of US-bound migrants.
The Latin American nation has received 123,187 requests in 2021, up from 41,230 last year, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters, describing the increase as “enormous.”
The government and the United Nations were supporting the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance to deal with a backlog of applications, he said, adding that the organization needed more personnel and funding.
Mexico has a relatively simple asylum process and approves more than 95 percent of applications, Ebrard added.
In recent months, tens of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence have arrived in Mexico, where many are seeking asylum while waiting to try to enter the United States.
Human traffickers commonly hide undocumented migrants in trucks bringing them from Guatemala into Mexico, from where they head north to the US border.
Underscoring the dangers facing them, a horrific road accident on December 9 left 56 undocumented migrants dead after the truck transporting them overturned.
More than 190,000 undocumented foreigners were detected in Mexico between January and September, according to authorities.
Some 74,300 were deported.
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