Attachments
This SNAPSHOT summarizes the findings of Protection Monitoring conducting during the quarter. Protection Monitoring is part of the humanitarian response of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in Mexico to the crisis affecting mixed migration flows. DRC conducts this Protection Monitoring in Tapachula, Reynosa and Matamoros. The activities are carried out with the financial support of the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) of the United States Department of State. The intervention is conducted in association with Save the Children Spain and Mexico, Plan International USA and Mexico, HIAS Mexico, and Doctors of the World France and Switzerland. Beginning in October 2024, this exercise is aligned with the ProLAC initiative to harmonize the Protection Monitoring of DRC and NRC regionally.
Following Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration as President of Mexico in early October, there were a number of changes that raised questions about the protection environment in Mexico. The murder of six migrants by Mexican army soldiers in Chiapas reflected the persistent context of militarization of immigration control, while the departure of the head of COMAR with the change of government left a significant leadership vacuum in the Mexican asylum system. At the same time, the quarter saw 20,355 people formalize asylum applications with COMAR, which represents an increase compared to the previous quarter. During the quarter, tens of thousands of people with a CBP One appointment were able to access the United States from different points along the border – more than 44,900 in October, 43,000 in November, and 44,000 in December. At the same time, the number of irregular entries recorded by US authorities continued to decline: approximately 296,000 in the three-month period, compared to more than 785,000 in the same period in 2023. In October, US authorities announced that they would not extend temporary status for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who had entered the country through the special parole program and also finalized the adoption of restrictive rules on access to asylum introduced in June. Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election in November was followed by reports of his plans to massively increase the volume of deportations and resume restrictions on access to the asylum procedure through the MPP program. Despite the fear expressed by many people of concern regarding these potential changes and their urgency to access U.S. territory, persistent challenges in securing an CBP One appointment during the quarter resulted in only 9.6% of respondents with intentions to transit to the United States reporting having being assigned an appointment.