While in the Aztec country was held a historic election day, many Mexicans who are asylum seekers preferred not to vote and instead to continue their process of passing to the United States

On July 1, Mexico celebrated a historic election day. However, what is striking about that day is the number of Mexican migrants who were at the border ready to ask for asylum. This was a considerable number of people, who did not care about the democratic game that was happening. The main reason is the violence that is experienced in the country, a situation that for asylum seekers is not going to change with the new government.

Leer en español: ¿Algunos mexicanos prefirieron solicitar asilo en EE. UU. antes que votar en las elecciones?

Asylum seekers at the border

For José María García, in an interview with the newspaper Excelsior of México, "extortion, kidnapping, and constant homicides do not allow Mexicans to think about their country. Many of the asylum seekers come from states marked by criminality linked to drug cartels, such as Michoacán and Guerrero." García, director of the Juventud 2000 shelter in Tijuana, explained that of the total number of people who were ready to request their passage to the United States in asylee status on July 1, approximately 48% were Mexicans. To these Mexicans, the electoral day little called their attention.

"They do not want to know anything about Mexico, much less trust that whoever wins is going to do something for them," Garcia added when he was asked about Mexican citizens in his shelter. "Migrants from other countries, see Mexico as a country of passage, only who stays is because they found what they were looking for. So they also do not think about the elections," he said.

Carmen Medina, a 26-year-old widow from the state of Zacatecas, told Excelsior journalists that she had no interest in Sunday's elections. "I left my house with what I was wearing, my husband was murdered for not paying extortion, and I do not want to run the same fate, nor do I want it for my daughter. The new president can not do anything if the candidates are killed, what can they do for one?" said Medina.

For García, the director of the Juventud 2000 shelter, it is abnormal that the number of Mexicans is growing. "Until a few months ago those who arrived at the refuge were Central Americans, but the displacement of Mexicans due to violence has been increasing in recent weeks, and may even have outnumbered the traditional arrival of Central Americans seeking to cross IGNORE INTO the United States through Tijuana," he said.

Óscar Misael Hernández, researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), said in an interview with El Financiero of México that "many Mexicans have lost hope that their governments can guarantee them security, and this is the reason why some are willing to risk everything for being able to ask for a long-term asylum in the United States. "

You can also read: Mexico deports more undocumented immigrants than the United States

Asylum applications: How good is the measure to enter the United States?

For Hernandez, the asylum has become the new measure requested since the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House, as the number of refugees per fiscal year has decreased. "When Obama was president, the number of refugees per fiscal year was 110,000, Donald Trump dropped that number to 50,000 and for the current fiscal year, he set the number to 45,000. In the case of asylees, the numbers did not change, but there is a study in each particular case that could benefit the applicants since the waiting time can last for months, even years. "

According to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) prepared by Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler, the 10 countries with the highest number of asylum applications submitted in 2017 were, from highest to lowest: China (17,450), Venezuela (14,773), Mexico (14,663), Guatemala (10,699), El Salvador (9,422), Honduras (5,680), India, Ecuador (3,174), Haiti and Ukraine.

In the fiscal year of 2017, 115,399 asylum applications were filed, according to data from the Department of National Security. Of these, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) approved 8,943, denied 132, transferred to a judge immigration 13,615 cases, and the remaining 92,709 have the status of pending.

In the Latin American case, 4,174 applications were approved: 1,378 from El Salvador, 1,252 from Guatemala, 852 from Honduras, 422 from Mexico, 144 from Venezuela, 81 from Ecuador and 45 from Colombia. The other approved cases correspond to other countries. For the remaining Latin American applications, their fate is not yet defined. While the application is being decided, the applicants can be settled in the North American country following the requirements of the authorities, such as continuously reporting to the immigration judge, according to the decree of zero-tolerance.

LatinAmerican Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

Translated from "¿Algunos mexicanos prefirieron solicitar asilo en EE. UU. antes que votar en las elecciones?"