Tragic Migration X-Ray

I am dedicating my Special Mission article to analyzing migratory changes in Mexico as a country of origin, transit, destination and return. It’s a tragedy.

Immigration is once again a focus of concern. There are changes in the composition of migration flows, politicization of the issue and poorly explained and short-term decisions negotiated by the inexperienced. A worrying X-ray.

Mexico – Country of Origin

For years, factors of expulsion and attraction characterized Mexican immigration to the U.S. Mexico had an escape valve in the face of its inability to create the necessary jobs and the United States finding a hardworking, reliable, cheap labor force, almost always undocumented and therefore vulnerable, to meet the demand for workers.

Mexican immigrants were single men who left their families behind. Women joined this immigration facilitated by the existing social networks in the U.S. The tightening of U.S. immigration policies changed migration routes to more inhospitable places, to the desert. Deaths increased; workers were more vulnerable. They became easy prey for organized crime. Remittances from Mexican workers have always contributed to the daily survival of their families in Mexico.

From the year 2000, several factors combined to arrive at the so-called “net-zero migration.” Every year, more Mexicans returned to the country than left. The trend began to change during the pandemic and the U.S. implementation of measures such as Title 42 for health reasons, which allows the U.S. to return anyone who crosses irregularly to Mexican territory. A short-term measure became an instrument of containment.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection just released the figure of 2 million “encounters” (euphemism for detentions) at the U.S.-Mexico border from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022. The percentage of Mexicans detained has grown in recent years. In fiscal year 2019, there were 237,000 arrests of Mexican migrants; in 2021, 655,594; and in 2022, a total of 808,339. Many were arrested several times, so the real figure must be between 22% and 30% lower.

Due to the confidentiality of the process, there are no exact figures on the number of Mexicans applying for asylum — almost always denied — but the available information indicates that the largest number of Mexican asylum seekers in the U.S. comes from the states of Guerrero and Michoacán due to threats from organized crime.

Mexico is once again a country of origin for immigrants. You have to wonder why. Factors such as COVID-19, the need for labor in the U.S. and the wage differential, the lack of well-paid jobs in the country and insecurity and violence in some states are part of the explanation.

This should be a wake-up call for the Mexican government. Their programs do not seem to contribute to the decrease in migration. It is increasing and so are remittances. Maybe that’s all they care about.