At least until April of this year, Sonora ranked fourth in the nation in terms of the number of people in an irregular migration situation, according to data published by the Migration Policy Unit of the National Migration Institute (INM).
From January to April, 108,489 irregular migrants were detected, of which 63,317 were in Tabasco; 23,589 in Chiapas; 4,160 in Veracruz; and 2,107 in Sonora, in addition to 1,949 in Coahuila.
The agency reports that of the total number of irregular foreigners in the state, 1,615, or 76.64%, are located in Nogales; 246 people are in Hermosillo, 11.67% of the total.
For Israel Ibarra González, migration professor at El Colef, Nogales Unit, this behavior is not typical.
The behavior we’re seeing in these first four months of the year is unusual; this comes as a result of the cancellation of the “CBP One” application, through which these individuals sought political asylum in the United States. “We can analyze that the high percentage of people with irregular immigration status in the city of Nogales is due to the fact that the vast majority were stranded in the city after the cancellation of the application,” he commented.
The academic director of the Observatory of Migration Policy and Human Rights also highlighted that Nogales is the border city with the highest presence of people with irregular immigration status, as it was the only municipality in the state authorized to enter the United States through the defunct “CBP One” application.
Of the 18,384 people with irregular immigration status registered in Sonora last year, 7,213 were located in Hermosillo, representing 39.23% of the total for 2024.
Source: elimparcial
