Mexico Halts Migrant Transfers Due To Lack Of Funds; What To Expect?

Mexico, a country in North America, has ordered suspension of the transfer of migrants due to a lack of funds. Mexico’s finance ministry has also suspended payments to the National Immigration Institute amid the increase in migration. 

The head of Mexico’s immigration agency ordered suspension in an agency memo. Francisco Garduño ordered a halt to various agency activities in order to curb migration. Mexico’s finance ministry cited budget issues, saying “the lack of liquidity to cover commitments.”

In recent months, thousands of migrants have crossed the United States and Mexico’s southern borders. More than 400,000 people have crossed the Darién Gap, a dangerous jungle at the Colombia-Panama border. 

Migrant transfers

The authorities had been frequently moving migrants to the United States border that exhausted migrants. The country recorded nearly 590,000 undocumented migrants in its territory this year. 

From January to October this year, the Mexican authorities had deported 51,000 migrants, compared to nearly 122,000 migrants last year and more than 130,000 migrants in 2021.

The deportation of migrants decreased after a fire at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, the United States.

The fire accident killed 40 migrants and injured 27 other people. Subsequently, Mexico temporarily closed dozens of its migrant detention centers.

Francisco Garduño faces criminal charges because of the deadly fire. Six of them were charged with homicide.

What to expect?

Due to lack of funds, the Mexican government will rely more heavily on National Guard soldiers for migration management. There will also be a sharp decline in Mexico’s migrant apprehensions by the end of the year. 

The lack of funding underscores the increasing pressures that Mexico is grappling with as more migrants from around the globe attempt to cross the U.S. southern border. 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the principal United Nations agency working in the field of migration, confirmed a 60% annual increase in irregular migration through Mexico in 2023. 

Earlier this month, Mexican authorities found 123 migrants, including 34 children, trapped in a locked trailer box. It was not known how the migrants were trapped inside the trailer box.