Mexico is experiencing an unprecedented migratory flow. In the case of Ecuadorians, it is part of the journey they travel in order to reach the United States.
Migrants of different nationalities remain in a shelter this Friday, February 16, 2024 in Tapachula (Mexico).
Irregular migration of Ecuadorians to Mexico increased by 220% in 2023, compared to the previous year. The majority of compatriots enter the Aztec country with the aim of reaching the United States.
In 2022, the Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior of Mexico registered 22,098 events of Ecuadorian people in an irregular migration situation in that country. But in 2023, the number rose to 70,790.
The figures refer to events, because the same person could have entered the country on more than one occasion.
In 2022, Ecuador was in eighth place on the list of the main ones with migrants in an irregular situation, in 2023, it rose to fourth place, after Venezuela, Honduras and Guatemala.
Once in Mexico, migrants try to obtain permits to circulate through the country and thus reach the border with the United States.
There are also those who continue their journey clandestinely and expose themselves to risks such as traffic accidents and kidnappings. There are very few who try to stay in Mexico.
Migration crisis in Mexico
In general, irregular migration through Mexico increased by 77.2% in 2023, reveal statistics from the Mexican Government available this Friday, February 16, a phenomenon that keeps the country’s southern border at unprecedented levels of saturation.
The Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior registered 782,176 “events of people in an irregular migratory situation in Mexico” last year, nearly 340,000 more than the 441,409 in 2022.
The figures are reported after a year with an “unprecedented” migratory flow in Mexico and Central America, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with the arrival of up to 16,000 migrants daily at the Mexican borders at the highest point, agreement with the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The phenomenon has particularly impacted Tapachula, Mexico’s border with Central America, where Héctor Martín Méndez, representative of the Human Rights Defenders Collective, said the city saw record migration.
The activist asserted that the figure could be higher than that reported by the Mexican Government, which only counts intercepted irregular migrants.
Irregular migration from South America increased by 117% in 2023 and displaced Central America as the main region of origin for undocumented migrants.
