What's Mexico doing to stop migration to the US?

• Mexico deploys military, National Guard to control migration
• "Merry-go-round" strategy tires migrants
• Migrant interception up by 132% in 2024

MEXICO CITY - While President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Mexico with tariffs to stop the flow of undocumented migrants to the United States, data shows that Mexico has already been enacting a tough crackdown on migration for more than a year.

Since 2023, Mexico has intercepted a record number of migrants while also detaining and transporting migrants around the country in a strategy meant to tire them out, experts told Context.

Here's how Mexico has been cracking down on migration:

Record encounters

Containing migrants within Mexico's borders has fallen largely on the country's military, National Guard and National Migration Institute (INM) that are tasked with implementing government migration policy and regulation.

The military's involvement came into full force in 2023, with nearly 15,000 federal and state forces deployed at 301 checkpoints along Mexico's southern and northern borders, according to government data.

The military checkpoints are meant to detect and stop migrants along highways, at train and bus stations and near migrant shelters as people head north to the United States.

The uptick coincided with a visit in December 2023 from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, when the U.S. officials asked Mexico “to do as much as possible to stop more migrants from reaching the border", said Maureen Meyer, program vice president with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a human rights advocacy group.

Migrant caravans leaving from Mexico’s southern border, which usually gather hundreds of people travelling by foot to the U.S. border, have been getting disbanded, with the

INM offering transportation back to the southern border, according to Rafael Velásquez, director in Mexico for the International Rescue Committee.

Other migrants may make formal appointments to meet with U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities or opt to make the journey on their own, he said.

The INM also offers transportation for migrants seeking medical services, where their migration status can be reviewed as well.

From January to August 2024, migration authorities intercepted more than 950,000 undocumented migrants in the country, 132% more than in the same period the previous year.

This was the highest number of encounters recorded in 10 years, according to Context analysis of government data.

Mexico also received 182,258 asylum requests between January 2023 and June 2024 - a high number despite the temporary closure of the Mexican Refugee Commission offices in Mexico City.

Migrant merry-go-round

Rather than deporting or arresting migrants, Mexico has turned to a "merry-go-round" strategy meant to wear down their resolve, according to Velásquez.

Migrants detained by law enforcement are transported by bus to different states in Mexico, particularly Chiapas and Tabasco.

Once freed, they may restart their journey to the United States but keep getting detained and transported back to the southern Mexican border.

"We know people who have been returned two, three times, and families that have been separated, with a parent sent to a different state while the rest of the family continues their journey", said Velásquez.

The INM has said it has hired charter planes and buses to transport migrants within Mexico as well as to their home countries, mainly in Central America.

The strategy is forcing migrants to seek circuitous and more dangerous routes and places them at greater risk of becoming victims of organized crime that controls smuggling routes, said Camilo Vélez, operational deputy mission chief in Mexico and Central America for Doctors Without Borders.

In the past six months, the medical charity has seen an increase in the number of migrants with anxiety and depression as well as a higher number of victims of sexual violence.

"(This strategy) has a very big impact on their physical and mental health," said Vélez.

Scarce resources

Despite Trump's threats of massive deportations and a crackdown on undocumented migration, Mexico is planning to reduce its federal budget for migration in 2025.
For next year, the INM and the Mexican Commission for Refugees will receive 1.7 billion pesos ($85 million), which is 10% less than in 2024.

Vélez said the cut will particularly have an impact on refugees and people seeking asylum as operations to support them were already stretched this past year due to high demand.

Migration experts have called on the Mexican government to enact policies that will create safer routes for migrants and encourage them to stay in Mexico rather than seek a better life and jobs in the United States.

For Velásquez, a key strategy would be to launch a work visa program that allows migrants and people seeking asylum to work anywhere in Mexico.

Vélez also advocated for a transit permit that grants migrants safe passage through Mexico and would protect them from falling prey to organized crime or from paying a smuggler as much as $14,000 to travel to the U.S. border.

(Reporting by Diana Baptista; Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Ellen Wulfhorst)