Tagalog Hungarian ~.zmHB\O3M Albanian Every day, all over the world, people make one of the most difficult decisions in their lives: to leave their homes in search of a safer, better life. COMAR officials have acknowledged Haitians cannot be safely returned, but COMAR rarely grants complementary protection to any applicants, including Haitians. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has deployed almost 30,000 soldiers alongside National Migration Institute (INM) agents to apprehend undocumented migrants throughout Mexico. A young girl had to go to the bathroom, and her mother escorted her to an inconspicuous spot behind a Border Patrol truck while the girls father watched anxiously for them to return. Somali Yemen: Detained journalist denied urgent health care must be released, Time to recognize that a safe environment is a human right, Focus on palm leaves. In late April, the pastor who runs the shelter, Hector Silva, was asked to meet with U.S. government officials to discuss a process for sending some migrants who qualify for humanitarian exceptions to the public health rule across the pedestrian bridge linking Reynosa with the United States. Armenian All asylum seekers are identified by pseudonyms for their protection. In September, immigration agents were filmed kicking and beating families in a migrant caravan. On Monday, the immigration agent arrived. A young boy from Guatemala shook his head, trying to get something out of his ear. Roma has become one of the biggest crossing points in Texas. She knew about us. When the pair arrived in Nuevo Laredo, a northern Mexican city where drug cartels have been fighting for turf, they and other people who had been on their bus were kidnapped and sexually assaulted for days, they said. Mexico apprehended 307,569 migrants in 2021, the highest number ever recorded. Then, we found a shelter. If that is true, he should demonstrate it by ensuring asylum seekers in southern Mexico get a humane welcome.. On the 15th day, the mother and daughter escaped and crossed the Rio Grande into the United States on a boat that held about 30 people. Kazakh Nearly every interviewee said they had entered Mexico irregularly, taking a raft or wading across the Suchiate River, which separates Mexico and Guatemala. Some said they had family or friends in other parts of Mexico who could help. COMAR receives and decides refugee status claims at its nine offices throughout the country. In early May, a mother and daughter from Honduras were at the camp when they learned that they were among a group chosen to cross into the United States. One man said it was his fourth time crossing the border.

Most said they came fleeing violence or persecution in their home countries but did not attempt to request protection at an official border crossing, fearing agents from Mexicos immigration authority, the National Migration Institute (INM) would deport them. Agent Jesse Moreno looking for a group of men. As long as their reason for fleeing is connected to the disturbance of public order, COMAR nearly always presumes they are refugees and grants them protection. Some are detained by the authorities as soon as they arrive in a new country. Without it, they cannot travel within Mexico and may be detained and considered undocumented if they reach a checkpoint. Another agent yelled, Kneel! Place representatives at border crossings and points of entry to facilitate protection for those requiring it. And it should ensure that Haitians have access to protection and legal status. Its hard to find someplace to live here. In October 2021, National Guard troops opened fire on a truck carrying migrants, in an apparent attempt to detain them, killing two. No one tried to sneak away; everyone remained quiet. _URlbHKV{`lR With enough political will, our leaders can protect people fleeing conflict and persecution, including through a solution calledresettlement. They gave border agents whatever form of identification they were carrying and put their belongings including shoelaces, belts, watches and smartphones into plastic bags. But they kept telling me to leave. Immigration officials said asylum seekers rarely enter at official crossings, but if they do, the policy is to take adults into custody and transfer them to an immigration detention center and to transfer children and families to a shelter where they wait to speak to a COMAR representative and make a refugee status claim. z}iB9xTS;5Ofi A New York Times photographer documented three ways that people cross the border into the United States. Work with the International Organization for Migration to expand the pilot program to help non-refugees obtain legal status and integrate in cities in Central Mexico. Immigration officials said that their agents always inform detained migrants of their right to seek refugee status. One-time grants given by resettlement agencies when an immigrant first arrives are not counted as ongoing payments for the purposes of counting unearned income. Most said they were detained after entering the country undocumented, before applying for asylum. They didnt give you any medicine. These journeys, which all start with the hope for a better future, can also be full of danger and fear. Slovak {DnmT)m5m{f@t7:[-Y^Mf{:_:+6i|38GK\|9qR? A record 130,863 people also applied for refugee status in Mexico in 2021, the third-highest number in the world according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. In 2021, it received more than 130,000 but only processed 38,005. UNHCR contributed $4.5 million in 2021. My husband was in jail for 12 years, from age 14 to 26. Xinca US President Joe Biden has continued many of former president Donald Trumps abusive anti-immigration policies, including pressuring Mexico to stop migrants from reaching the US and blocking access to asylum at the US southern border through policies like Title 42 and Remain in Mexico. He told me if the neighbors hear my accent or figure out Im Honduran, hell evict me. In a globalized world, sharing global responsibility for global issues is the fair thing to do. Esperanto Not having anything to eat. -Joel, 20, Honduras. Mr. Silva said Customs and Border Protection had been reaching out two or three times a day to ask for small groups of people who fall into certain categories. A backlog of unresolved cases means asylum seekers can face waits of more than two years. Seventy-five percent of the 438 families they surveyed for their January 2022 report said nobody in their family had worked in the past three months. There is no internationally accepted legal definition of a migrant. of the countries hosting the largest number of refugees are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Around 70 percent of those who apply for refugee status in Mexico do so in Tapachula. We want to live in a world where people who are in grave danger have the opportunity to rebuild their lives in safety. Rundi President Lpez Obrador has often portrayed Mexico as a champion of migrants and asylum seekers, Mattiace said. Residents of the camp volunteered to move a temporary building and help set up a new location to accomodate more people. She threatened us. Ensure that immigration agents inform all apprehended migrants of their right to seek refugee status or other forms of international protection in Mexico, as required by national law, and do not attempt to dissuade people from seeking protection. The immigration agency operates checkpoints throughout Chiapas, including on roads leading out of town and throughout the state, and at bus stations and airports. The people are not the problem. UNHCR pays for the buildings COMAR uses in some cities and covers office supplies like paper and printer ink. Once, as they accompanied a family of asylum seekers, National Guard troops and two Suchiate municipal police officers arrived, threatening to detain them, they said. Like all of us, they are complex and unique human beings and might choose to identify themselves as being from a certain country or region, belonging to a group that speaks a certain language or shares a culture. Refugee status applications and migrant apprehensions in Mexico have risen dramatically as US President Joe Biden has continued restricting access to asylum at the US southern border, and pushed Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador to heavily regulate travel to and within Mexico in order to prevent non-Mexican migrants from reaching the US. Serbian Unless noted otherwise, the cases are based on the direct testimony of interviewees. I was coughing, but they told me Youre not dying yet. Most wait many months for their applications to be reviewed and to receive documents proving their legal status and allowing them to leave. J I just want to leave Chiapas and be somewhere safer. A year earlier, they said, they fled Honduras after the daughter, 15, had been kidnapped and raped by a local gang. People applying for refugee status can wait for months in Tapachula a month or more for the initial COMAR appointment; then from a month to more than a year for review, depending on the complexity of the case; and, upon approval, three to six months for an appointment for a residence visa. Latvian Uzbek Tens of thousands came. If you do not see your language listed, you can request a translated version by calling 877-501-2233. The INM issued temporary humanitarian visas to about 50,000 Haitians in 2021. ;KRr They have organized hunger strikes, sewn their mouths shut, burned tires, attacked immigration offices, and clashed with soldiers and police. people have been forcibly displaced due to conflict, persecution or natural disasters. Welcoming people from other countries strengthens host communities by making them more diverse and flexible in our fast-changing world. Evaluate claims from Haitians using the same standard applied to other applicants from countries experiencing generalized violence, or mass human rights violations that have seriously disturbed public order. German While neither government officials nor migrants rights groups know how many migrants are waiting in Tapachula, a city of just over 350,000, the 90,000 refugee status applications made there in 2021 suggest the number is high. 130,863 people also applied for refugee status in Mexico, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, Hati : des dizaines de civils touchs par des balles perdues, alors que de violents affrontements perdurent, Haiti: The Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement calls for respect for patients and the medical mission, Hait: Mdicos Sin Fronteras atiende a 80 de heridos de bala tras un nuevo estallido de violencia en Puerto Prncipe, Nicaragua and Honduras: Migration Flow Casualties (DG ECHO, OCHA, partners) (ECHO Daily Flash of 29 July 2022). Until recently, UNHCR employed 230 of COMARs 361 staff through an outsourcing agency. There are many reasons why it might be too difficult or dangerous for people to stay in their own countries. A migrant camp known as Senda De Vida in the Mexican city of Reynosa, across the river from McAllen, Texas, has been full for months. They say we have to wait here for months. -Emiliano, 51, Venezuela, The day after I was detained, the immigration agent came and said we all had to sign our deportation papers. Carla, 27, Honduras.

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 100 migrants, asylum seekers, representatives of migrants rights groups and UN agencies, and officials from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, between August 2021 and April 2022, in person and by phone, in Tapachula and Mexico City, and in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, near the main border crossing. The agency later sent the groups a letter saying it had instructed staff at the border to follow its code of conduct. COMAR has also received support from the Coahuila, Jalisco, and Chiapas state governments, which have provided buildings and land for offices and processing centers. Human Rights Watch interviewed 80 migrants and asylum seekers in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, and Tapachula, Mexico, primarily in August and September 2021, with additional interviews conducted into May 2022, with 28 representatives of UN bodies, the Mexican, Guatemalan, and Honduran governments, the Chiapas state prosecutors office, and migrants rights organizations. Conditions in the stadium were crowded, disorganized, and unsanitary, with people waiting in the sun and sleeping on the ground, no garbage facilities or drinking water, and dirty, overused toilets, said Refugees International, which visited in December. Most people in the world have had the experience of leaving the place where they grew up. Some said they were instructed to sign voluntary return documents without reading them. Sinhalese Estonian Conduct an audit of COMARs needs and capacity, and ensure that the agency is sufficiently staffed and funded. Amnesty has championed the human rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants for decades. Border Patrol agents found other members of the group hiding under a truck in a strip mall parking lot. You can join our movement of people who welcome refugees. But for some people, they will need to leave their country entirely sometimes for a short time, but sometimes forever. Others feel they must leave because of poverty, political unrest, gang violence, natural disasters or other serious circumstances that exist there. Leaders from the Western Hemisphere are expected to sign a regional declaration on migration and protection during the Summit of the Americas, hosted by President Biden in Los Angeles.

Finnish Ukrainian Once the agents have processed everyone, the migrants are bused to a Customs and Border Protection facility where they wait in more lines and answer more questions. Most enter near the city of Tapachula, in Chiapas state. F8i)%y@H'hLc9ChWYYU-f1EMgUye=. %PDF-1.5 % Large groups, including of families and unaccompanied minors, intentionally surrender themselves to Border Patrol every night. If you are otherwise eligible, you cannot be denied RCA because you have not yet received a Social Security Number. Instead, refugees should be offered a safe place to live and opportunities to access work, education and health care. One of the busiest crossing points in the Rio Grande Valley is in Roma, Texas, a historic town of about 11,000, with parts that sit atop sandstone bluffs overlooking the Rio Grande. Which language would you like to use this site in? To be eligible for the RCA program you must have resources of less than $6,000. Expedite procedures to apply for residence visas for recognized refugees. Certain resources, such as the first $10,000 of value in a vehicle used by the assistance unit or household as transportation, are exempt. Many people feel overwhelmed by the numbers and see people moving across borders as a global crisis. Officials are prohibited from returning people to a country where their life would be threatened or they would be at risk of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, regardless of whether they intend to apply for refugee status in Mexico.Mexicos refugee system is overseen by COMAR, a much smaller agency than the INM, which oversees all other immigration issues, including enforcement. Some of the most inspiring and influential people in the arts, science, politics and technology have been refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. Quechua Refugee status applications in Mexico have soared as the US has restricted access to asylum and Mexico has stepped up immigration enforcement, making it harder to reach the US. A few years before he was released, he told the gang he was going to quit. With regards to work, its difficult. Catalan

Azerbaijani Soon, they registered with the shelter in Reynosa, which keeps a database of all the migrants who come through it. UNHCR pays for many basic operating costs, including two-thirds of staffs salaries. Refugees have a right to international protection. Bosnian Senior INM officials said they do not believe most people seeking refugee status in Mexico have legitimate claims, either because they do not believe they are truly fleeing violence and persecution or because they believe most would prefer to seek asylum in the US. UNHCR provided US $4.5 million in 2021, twice as much as the Mexican government. In 2021, nearly 90,000 people applied for refugee status in Tapachula, equivalent to a quarter of the citys population. Why dont you just go back to your countries? The mother and daughter from Honduras were among this group. (Los Angeles) Migrants and asylum seekers who enter Mexico through its southern border face abuses and struggle to obtain protection or legal status as a result of policies aimed at preventing them from reaching the US, Human Rights Watch said today. -Ximena, 31, Honduras, I was a taxi driver in Honduras. You should all know that if you request asylum, you will be here for six months. The others said they didnt want to be in detention for six months, so they signed the papers and were sent back. It has no permanent presence at airports or border crossings. Mongol The shelters are awful; I dont feel safe there with my children. There are about 26 million refugees globally. !+7xME?Pxt @ Regional Refugee law instruments (including 1969 OAU Convention, 1984 Cartagena Declaration, Common European Asylum System and Dublin Regulation). Or they might say about themselves that they are a teacher, doctor, artist, passionate football fan, father, sister, son or mother. We were even sleeping on the bathroom floor like a prison. xF8pqH8N#,@Ko4:C*,6&!8AP,0 GJb#%-@>*`f\bG|@sh XpEcR6$v As of April, the INM said it had transferred more than 50,000 people since November 2021 to 24 states. Signs posted outside some businesses advertised jobs for Mexicans only. The budget for the refugee authority, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR), which is separate from the INM, has not kept pace, and it has a growing backlog of refugee status applications. He imposed new visa requirements, making it harder for Brazilians, Venezuelans, and Ecuadorians to travel to Mexico. We campaign for governments to properly process the asylum claims of asylum-seekers so that they dont leave themin limbo sometimes even locked away in detention centres for years. The terms migrant and refugee are often used interchangeably but it is important to distinguish between them as there is a legal difference. I dont know what well do. Interpretation services are available. officials to identify migrants who meet humanitarian exceptions. Some no longer feel safe and might have been targeted just because of who they are or what they do or believe for example, for their ethnicity, religion, sexuality or political opinions. The Chiapas secretary of education confirmed that just over 1,000 non-North American students were enrolled in Tapachula public schools in the 2020-2021 school year. Children who arrive without a parent or guardian go to one area; others are grouped by nationality. As waiting time for humanitarian visas and residence visas has grown, those waiting in Tapachula have begun to protest delays and difficulties. He told me No one here gets to talk with their family. There were so many of us, we slept one on top of the other. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all. Belarusian oO endstream endobj 220 0 obj <>stream Barriers to Protection for Detained Migrants. Some said immigration agents tried to dissuade them from applying for refugee status and pressured them to agree to voluntary return, even when they said they would be at risk of violence and persecution in their home countries. Take a raft across the river with my two kids? Those found to have done so by immigration agents are considered to have abandoned their application and can be detained and deported. But they wanted more money than I earned; I had no way to pay. French Swedish Any agreement signed should include commitments by leaders to restore and expand access to protection across the continent, to end heavy-handed enforcement policies that have led to abuses. The US should restore access to asylum at its border and stop pressuring Mexico to crack down on migration. Some said landlords and employers refuse to rent to or hire non-Mexicans. The agents are legally prohibited from turning away anyone with a refugee status claim or anyone whose life would be at risk upon return to their home country. Mexican law recognizes anyone fleeing generalized violence, internal conflict, or massive human rights abuses that seriously disturb public order, among others, as a refugee. The rest of our family would have to stay in Guatemala. Parents made faces at their children to elicit smiles, as the wait stretched into the early hours of the morning. The Red Cross told us we could go to Tecn Uman and request asylum in Mexico. D{Iz FS5>U|y|>adM*l9/G{IikFbWrm1&4Mv{&=:QyV}7Zw$- ~{TpwIGy@0U~6@_x|J&Dd8(5. #i7z]JO*$O5da)Z 1eXC{qjOXClpE Without a visa, they are usually not allowed to travel. Cq:F!FA[=c+a6%@_8=mrD9T]qN>C4I-1RMftu/s?E64+WF!F6]_{{\-]%OA #xb About 70 percent of refugee status claims are made through the COMAR office in Tapachula, where officials have struggled to manage demand for appointments. UNHCR short-term cash assistance for vulnerable people, of US $100-300 per month for up to three months, reaches about 100 households each week. Read our more detailed analysis on Refugees in Numbers. The International Organization for Migration began a pilot program in 2022 to help families in Tapachula who do not qualify as refugees obtain legal status, relocate to central Mexico, and find work and housing there. XQC2]kx(x&yA!%X 25^lg8'}"&.Kf4yJk&hrqpMc@vN/Iz[dltt-`0#?-.

Persian Then he turned to the group and said Julio is talking about asylum. Ido Xhosa Document Language Come back when youre dying. Half of us had Covid-19 symptoms. Experiences varied, suggesting immigration agents and private security guards on the Rodolfo Robles border bridge, connecting Tecn Uman, Guatemala and Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, at times decide on their own how to respond. Those who cross Mexicos southern border fleeing violence and persecution struggle to obtain protection, face serious abuses and delays, and are often forced to wait for months in inhumane conditions near Mexicos southern border while struggling to find work or housing. Human Rights Watch interviewed 19 people who had been held in immigration detention centers. hbbd```b``f ID %D26W0|&Ii0yH2M,Adk hoFAg` A man returning to the tent area of Senda De Vida after saying goodbye to friends headed to cross the border. I was afraid I would die. The rights of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers are protected by international law, regardless of how and why they arrive in a country. Pashto Tajik The whole family went seven of us. -Israel, 24, Nicaragua, We left Honduras because a drug cartel kicked us off our farm. But I dont do things like that. Wet from the river, the migrants presented carefully stashed documents to Border Patrol agents, who had set up a makeshift office with a desk and chairs on the unpaved road that connects the river with the town. Financial support programs provided by UNHCR and the government for refugee status applicants fail to reach many who need help. Improve conditions of migration detention, particularly by ensuring: adequate, clean, and safe sanitation facilities; proper and clean bedding for each detainee; timely, proper responses to requests for medical care. And they brought me to talk to the consul. The program has relocated over 18,000 since it began in 2016. They are required to allow them into Mexico and to forward their requests to COMAR. Some may stay there for several days before officials decide whether or not they can remain, at least for now, in the country. Brazilian Portuguese Dari In some cases, immigration agents and the National Guard have violently broken up caravans. They receive US $130 every two weeks. Lots of us had fever, flu, or a cough. officials, lawyers and nonprofit groups that assist asylum seekers, according to asylum lawyers and officials with the Department of Homeland Security. I recently found an apartment. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum. Some migrants leave their country because they want to work, study or join family, for example. The terms refugee, asylum-seeker and migrant are used to describe people who are on the move, who have left their countries and have crossed borders. If that couple earns over $839 per month, they would no longer receive RCA. Once a bubbly, chatty teenager, she barely speaks now and flinches whenever anyone comes near, her mother said.

Tok Pisin When we use these labels, we need to remember that out of the many ways in which people describe themselves, these terms only refer to one experience: that of leaving their countries. hXkH+ea[N`fn3cVl9W-e-uzHRR@ Seeking asylum is a human right. The pastor who runs it opened a second space last month for migrants who were sleeping in a makeshift encampment in a nearby public park. They had not gone through an official border crossing, fearing immigration agents would detain and deport them when they attempted to enter the country or request protection, they said. They might believe they have a better chance of finding work in another country because they have the education or capital to seek opportunities elsewhere. Gujarati Host communities benefit from the tremendous energy and drive to start new lives, which these people bring. It is important to understand that, just because migrants do not flee persecution, they are still entitled to have all their human rights protected and respected, regardless of the status they have in the country they moved to.