Number of Mexican Migrants Escalates due to Violence

The number of Mexican migrants who stayed in Cuidad, Juarez and other border cities have increased in the past few months due to violence. Some of the migrants are with their whole family while waiting for the approval of their asylum application.

The United States of America has decreased the number of legal and illegal immigrants entering and staying in the country because of the new immigration restrictions that Trump's administration has set. However, the fact remains that the administration cannot control Mexicans who want to escape their homeland because of related violence such as the cartel, organized crime groups. gangs, and many more.

In the article published in MSN News, thousands of the migrants looking for asylum in the U.S. are stuck in Ciudad Juarez and other border cities for weeks and waiting that their permission to cross the country will be granted. Meanwhile, according to Human Rights advocates the situation of the Mexican migrants violates the American and international law by forcing them to stay in a country where they feel that their lives are at risk.

In one interview a Mexican migrant said that he was only forced to leave his country because his son was pressured to join an organized criminal group. He fled the country together with 10 members of his family and that includes his son. He also added that their lives in their homeland are at risk because they don't know if someone comes anytime to kill them.

However, with the new measures of Trump's administration to restrict the numbers of immigrants in the country it would be difficult for the family to cross the border and be granted permission to stay in United States. It can be recalled in a previous report of Latin Post that one of the reviews of the new immigration policy is it favors those who belong in the upper-class family. Meanwhile, the Mexican migrant interviewed was a farm laborer in the Mexican state of Zacatecas.

It can also be remembered that Trump's administration pressured the Mexican government to deploy thousands of security that would detain those who planned to cross the borders illegally. This strategy indeed helped a lot in decreasing the numbers of illegal immigrants who cross the borders. However, this policy has a little impact on the Mexicans who seek asylum in the U.S. because once they have entered the country and applied for protection, they cannot be sent home not unless their application is denied.

According to the United States Customs and Border Protection around 17,000 Mexicans were caught in October who illegally crossed the ports of entry. This is contrary to the Mexican officials who said that the number of Mexicans seeking American asylum has gone down in recent months.

Meanwhile, migrant advocates say that the American border guards have turned away the asylum seekers and told them that they don't have the capacity to receive new applicants. This led thousands of applicants to stay in Ciudad, Juarez and other border cities while waiting for the approval of their asylum request. Moreover, thousands of asylum seekers are staying under plastic tarps and enduring the temperatures of the area.

Aside from Mexico, there are also thousands of asylum seekers coming from other countries who stay in Mexico while waiting for their application to be approved. This system is known as metering, in which according to the advocates, is very dangerous because people who want to leave their country due to violence are forced to stay and this puts their lives at risk.

Policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Border Rights Center in El Paso Shawn Drake said: "The Trump administration is focused on bringing immigration basically down to nothing and in doing so they're again destroying a system set up by Congress to protect the most vulnerable arriving at our borders."

Meanwhile, A.C.L.U already filed a complaint in November at the Homeland Security Department to investigate the metering practices. The complaint filed focuses more on the impacts of the said practice towards the Mexican migrants.