Why Did Mexico Detain Nearly Half a Million Migrants Heading to the U.S?

As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs on Mexico unless it prevents illegal migrants from reaching the shared border, leading Mexican security forces to detain over 475,000 irregular migrants since October, officials said Friday. The fact that nearly half a million migrants were arrested between October 1st and December 26th indicates that the procedures became more stringent as the year came to a close.

The administration stated earlier this month that it has detained about 900,000 migrants since the year began. “We think it’s a model that works, that can always be improved, but that has responded very satisfactorily to this (migration) phenomenon,” Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said on Friday.

In comparison to the same period last year, the number of migrants apprehended at the shared border decreased by 81% in mid December.

The rise in detentions, according to Israel Ibarra, an immigration researcher at Colegio de la Frontera Norte was partly caused by “the commitment to reduce the transit of people in mobility through Mexico and to the United States” that Sheinbaum made during a recent call with Trump.

Sheinbaum and Trump spoke over the phone in late November after the Republican threatened to levy a 25% tax on Canadian and Mexican imports unless those nations halt the flow of migrants and drugs, primarily fentanyl.

In the same month on December 3rd Mexico cracked down on arrivals in the U.S-Mexico border, Mexican authorities arrested more than 5,200 migrants nationwide in a massive sweep on. According to the Navy, Mexican officials have detained around 350,000 migrants between October 1 and December 3.

Mexico has stepped up its attempts to stop illegal crossings in response to pressure from the United States as evidenced by the rise in migrant detentions. As the year draws to a close, tighter enforcement motivated by tariff threats highlights the intricate dynamics of bilateral ties and migration policy.

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