UN Refugee Agency Boosts Aid To Mexico Amid Surge Of Asylum Seekers

A sharp increase in Central American migrants seeking asylum in Mexico prompted the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to boost support as the nation upgrades its immigration system, the agency said on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th April, 2021) A sharp increase in Central American migrants seeking asylum in Mexico prompted the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to boost support as the nation upgrades its immigration system, the agency said on Tuesday.

"The UN Refugee Agency, is supporting Mexico to strengthen and expand its asylum procedures, amid a sharp increase in the number of people seeking asylum in the country," a press release said. "We have also scaled up our own programs to assist asylum seekers while their claims are being considered."

In the first quarter of 2021, Mexico's Commission for Refugee Assistance, COMAR, registered 22,606 new asylum applications, a 77 percent increase from the pre-pandemic first quarter of 2019, the release said.

Between 2014 and 2019, the number of asylum claims registered in Mexico jumped from 2,137 to 70,302 - an increase by over 3,000 percent, the release added.

The majority of asylum applications are related to violence affecting hundreds of thousands of people in parts of Central America, including threats, forced recruitment, extortion, sexual violence and murder, according to the release.

The US is coping with a similar surge of Central American migrants, US authorities encountering 172,331 border crossings in March, up from 101,028 in February. The total includes 18,890 unaccompanied children in March, nearly double the number in February, the US Customs and Border Protection agency reported earlier this month.