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Mexico's Immigration Control Efforts


Updated January 3, 2019


Background
Since 2014, Mexico has helped the United States manage a
surge in unauthorized migration from the Northern
Triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and
Honduras). Collectively, those countries have overtaken
Mexico  as the primary source for migrants apprehended at
the U.S.-Mexico border. From 2015 to November 2018,
Mexico reported apprehending almost 524,000 migrants
and asylum seekers from the Northern Triangle. As U.S.
asylum policies have tightened, Mexico also has absorbed
more Central Americans in need of humanitarian protection
(see Figure 1). President Andr6s Manuel L6pez Obrador
has thus far been willing to shelter some U.S.-bound
Central American migrants, but he urged the U.S.
government to invest in southern Mexico and Central
America to prevent future unauthorized migration.

Figure I. Mexico: Reported  Apprehensions  from
Northern  Triangle Countries  and Asylum
Applications


Apprehensions

180K


120K


60K


OK


11/28/18


  Asylum Applications

12K


BK


Norther
Triangle


4K


Source: Created by CRS with information from Mexico's Secretary
of the Interior.
Mexico has received U.S. assistance for its immigration
control efforts through the M6rida Initiative, a bilateral
partnership for which Congress has appropriated nearly
$2.9 billion since FY2008. Mexico has received support for
its humanitarian protection efforts through global U.S.
Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) implemented by
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)  and
others. Some U.S. policymakers have praised Mexico's
management  of these migration flows, whereas others have
questioned Mexico's ability to protect migrants from abuse
and to provide asylum to those in need of protection.

Immigration Control
Since 2014, Mexico has established 12 naval bases on the
country's rivers, three security cordons stretching more than
100 miles north of the Mexico-Guatemala and Mexico-
Belize borders, and a drone surveillance program. Mexico
does not have a border police; instead, its National Institute
of Migration (INM) is the only agency with legal authority


to detain migrants, with some assistance from the federal
police. These unarmed agents have worked to increase
immigration control along known migrant routes, including
on northbound trains and at bus stations. INM has improved
the infrastructure at border crossings and created numerous
mobile highway checkpoints. It also has increased the
number  of cases it refers to prosecutors for crimes against
migrants. With U.S. support (discussed below), INM is
seeking to professionalize its workforce and to improve
coordination and communication with the federal police,
navy, army, and customs agencies.

In addition to increasing law enforcement, Mexico provides
basic services for migrants, including medical care, and
facilitates legal migration for tourists and laborers from
Guatemala and Belize. Officials also have sought to register
those already in Mexico without documentation.

Human Rights Concerns
The State Department's 2018 Trafficking in Persons report
documents that migrants traveling through Mexico are
vulnerable to human rights abuses and human trafficking.
According to human rights activists, the increase in
checkpoints and raids on northbound trains pushed many
migrants to take more dangerous routes and rely on
smugglers. Recently, some migrants have joined in groups
or caravans to make the journey together as a way to
share resources, avoid the cost of smugglers, and gain
protection by the safety offered in numbers.

Many  human rights groups have expressed concerns that
Mexico has yet to address corruption among police and
migration officials. Mexico has made some efforts to
improve accountability and integrity among immigration
enforcement personnel by dismissing corrupt INM agents,
yet internal controls over the INM and security forces
remain weak. In 2015, Mexico established a federal special
prosecutor to investigate crimes involving migrants; some
states also have prosecutors for crimes against migrants.
Serious challenges remain, however. A fraction of crimes
against migrants have been prosecuted effectively.

Humanitarian Protection
Studies by UNHCR   and others have found that half of all
children and a sizable proportion of women fleeing the
Northern Triangle may need international protection.

Mexico has a broader definition of refugee than the United
States. Mexico's 2011 refugee law recognizes a right to
asylum based on generalized violence; foreign aggression;
internal conflicts; massive violations of human rights; and
other circumstances leading to a serious disturbance of
public order. Migrants' rights activists have claimed that
INM  agents have informed few migrants of the right to


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