EFE. Irregular migration from Asia and Africa has doubled so far this year in Mexico, where the inhabitants of the southern border highlight the presence of Chinese, whose transit is also more than double, in addition to the increase in the usual flow from Center and South America.
The National Migration Institute (INM) intercepted 16,859 irregular migrants from Asia in the first quarter of the year, 99.44% more than the 8,453 in the same period of 2023, according to statistics from the Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior ( Segob) available this Sunday.
Almost a third of them are from China, 5,114, which represents an increase of 132.98% compared to 2,195 in the first three months of the previous year.
While Africa registered 22,722 migrants from last January to March, that is, an increase of 115.58% compared to the 10,540 in the same period of 2023.
This means that those originating from Asia and Africa, a group of 39,581, represent 11% of irregular migration in Mexico, which intercepted a total of 359,697 undocumented immigrants in the first quarter of the year, an interannual increase of almost 200%.
This phenomenon is already perceived on the southern border of Mexico, where activists and hoteliers perceive that the nationalities of foreigners arriving in Tapachula, the epicenter of irregular migration in the region, are increasingly diverse.
Miguel Reyes del Pino, a hotel businessman, told EFE that migrants have arrived from Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, the Arab Emirates, Syria, Egypt and South Africa.
“The flow has changed because the authorities have been flexible or lax, they are allowing them to walk and on the road they find motorcycles that are advancing them, apart from all the means that exist to cross, who go by boat, by plane, cargo transportation and there is an impressive crossing,” he described.
Lawyer José Luis Pérez Jimenes, an expert in migration, highlighted the arrival of Chinese, who suffer discrimination because the INM and the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) do not allow them to carry out any type of procedure, according to the complaint.
“The Chinese, here on the southern border of Mexico, find it difficult because they do not have access to any type of procedure,” he stated.
The expert accused the Mexican Government of having different standards because “it has been very condescending or generous” with migrants from Venezuela, Haiti and Ecuador, but “they persecute the Cubans, the Turks, the Chinese and the Hindus like the dog that chases to his house.”
Salvadoran Óscar Hernández said that he has seen many Chinese and Middle Eastern migrants walking through Tapachula, where he is waiting to follow their journey.
“I have seen many Chinese, as well as those from the Middle East, as if they were from Egypt or Israelites walking around, I have been here for quite some time and from the Middle East it is kind of strange to see them, it is not very common to see them, there are more Salvadorans, Hondurans , Guatemalans. Lately in these two months I have seen a lot of Chinese people,” he said.
Honduran Carlos Sánchez agreed that they have seen Chinese migrants wandering the streets from one side to the other.
“They generally stay in a hotel or a lodging, they do not stay on the streets, there are recurring migrants, but not in abundance, this migration is different from that of Central America, where we come in masses,” he commented.
The director of the Todo Por Nuestros shelter, Lorenza Obdulia Reyes, indicated that migrants from Asia usually come with greater resources than those from Central and South America.
“There is money. Here the migrant who suffers is the poor one, they (the Chinese) walk like tourists, they stay in good hotels because their economic condition allows them to,” observed the activist.
Source: forbes
