Asylum seekers are staying in Mexico instead of going north to the United States after Trump’s election.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Mexico’s refugee agency, COMAR, received 5,421 asylum applications between November 2016 and March. This is more than double the 2,148 asylum applications over the same time period the year before.
Last year, Mexico was inundated with migrants from Central America, Africa, and the Caribbean seeking to get the U.S., and now they’re having to stay. The prospect of increased deportations after Trump’s election and the subsequent executive orders loosening rules placed on immigration officers has decreased illegal immigration substantially.
“While more than 16,000 family units were apprehended at the border in December, only 1,125 were apprehended in March,” Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said at a speech Tuesday.
Trump’s stance on immigration has not only increased asylum applications in Mexico. Mexico City is now providing welfare to illegal immigrants who have been deported.