Mexico received record asylum applications in 2021
Mexico – Mexico received a record 131,448 asylum applications last year, country's national refugee care agency said on Monday.
The number of applications nearly doubled the record set in 2019, Andres Ramirez Silva, the general coordinator of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (COMAR) said on Twitter.
That year, Mexico received 70,341 applications.
The increase came as migrants faced greater obstacles to reach the United States, which is the ultimate goal for most of them.
COMAR statistics showed the majority of asylum applicants were Haitians, followed by Hondurans and Cubans, as well as Venezuelans and people from other Central American countries.
The US government in 2021 deported thousands of Haitians who had settled in a makeshift camp in southern Texas, a deterrent that made thousands more who intended to cross decide to remain in Mexico.
President Joe Biden's administration was ordered by the courts to reinstate the so-called "Remain in Mexico" policy of his predecessor Donald Trump, which forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until it is their turn to present their cases in the US, something that can take months and even years.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire