Mexico’s migration strategy sees major drop
Northbound migrants in Mexico said that they feared deportations while Mexico's foreign minister hailed a migration strategy that has caused a decrease in the migratory flow to the United States.
Mexican security forces have detained about 475,000 irregular migrants since October, authorities stated, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs unless it stopped illegal migrants at the border.
Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said during a press conference "we think it's a model that works, it can be improved, but has responded satisfactorily to this phenomenon."
"As you can see, there has been a very dramatic decrease, I would say, of 75% compared to exactly one year ago. We think it's a model that works, it can be improved, but has responded satisfactorily to this phenomenon that continues and will continue with us."
The results align with President Claudia Sheinbaum's commitment to reducing transit through Mexico, made in a recent call with Trump.
Migrant activist Luis Garcia Villagran at the Mexican southern border criticized the strategy, accusing the government of detaining and releasing migrants further south in order to slow them down and deter them from trying again, even temporarily separating families.
"And in reality, this famous strategy of the federal government, up to now, is to disperse the caravans in a truly dirty way. Because they deceive the women, and separate the children and take away the father. They take the mother and child to Merida, they return the father to Villahermosa a Tapachula, and it takes them (migrants) one or two months to reunite at the southern border," Villagren said.
Nearly half a million migrants were detained between October 1 and December 26, suggesting measures intensified towards the year-end. Since the start of the year, approximately 900,000 migrants have been detained, the government reported earlier this month.
