MEXICO CITY, May 13 National Institute of Migration of Mexico (INM) stopped issuing transit permits to incoming migrants amid changes in US migration regulations, Formula radio reported, citing documents from the presidential administration.
«INM… has directed all units in all states to cease issuing multi-entry migration forms or other documents authorizing transit through the country,» reads a document handed out to reporters after a presidential press conference at the National Palace, a copy of the bulletin published on radio station Formula.
On May 11, the United States expired the Section 42 rule introduced under former President Donald Trump, which allowed authorities to expel migrants arriving from regions with a high risk of contracting coronavirus. Against this background, it became known that the federal government decided to deploy 1.5 thousand troops on the border with Mexico. Biden said the country's southern border would be in a «chaotic» situation once the forced deportation rule expired.
INM, according to a published document, warned that due to the changes to «Section 42» and the closure of some migration centers on the Mexican side, «mass operations (against migrants bound for the United States — ed.) could lead to to the violation of human rights due to the lack of places to accommodate foreigners».
Earlier in May, the US Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, hoping to contain the influx of refugees into the country, issued a new rule that establishes a «presumption of impossibility of granting asylum» in case of illegal crossing of the American border. The measure is designed to crack down on human smuggling networks and went into effect on May 11. Those migrants who do not declare fear of persecution in their countries and also illegally ended up in the United States will be immediately deported as part of the new requirement of American law.
A record number of migrants arrived at the southern border of the United States under the Biden administration, their influx broke records in 2021 and 2022 and exceeded 2.3 million people. US authorities said they faced more than 1.2 million migrants in fiscal year 2023. At the same time, Fox News and other American media estimate the number of illegal migrants who came to the United States during Biden's tenure as president at more than 6 million people.