IOM Backs Mexican Efforts to Aid Migrants Returned from the United States
Analysis
In the past few years, there has been a marked increase in returns of Mexican migrants from the United States. Between 2010 and 2013, a total of 1,576,831 Mexican migrants were returned by U.S. authorities. For 2013, INM reported a total of 332,614 returns; 326,288 (98%) arrived at the 21 traditional return points on the Mexico/U.S. border.
Mexico - IOM Mexico, in close cooperation with the Government of Mexico, this month began a pilot project aimed at providing post-arrival assistance to Mexican migrants returning from the United States.
The project Somos Mexicanos (We are Mexican) will provide post arrival assistance to ensure that Mexican migrants returning from the United States can return safely to their communities of origin.
The six-month pilot project, which will run through year end, will be carried out in four cities (Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas State, and Mexicali and Tijuana in the State of Baja California) on Mexico’s northern border, where more than 90 per cent of returns have taken place over the past three years.
IOM Mexico has opened four sub-offices on the northern border to offer grassroots assistance to the returnees.
It is estimated that some 72,000 Mexican migrants will be assisted in the coming six months. The assistance provided includes food and drink on arrival, telephone cards to communicate with family members, and bus tickets to return to communities of origin.
IOM Chief of Mission in Mexico Thomas Lothar Weiss said: “We are pleased to be working with the Mexican government to provide this much-needed post-arrival assistance to returned migrants. This initial assistance will ensure that they return safely to their communities.”
The vast majority of migrants returned from the United States hail from the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Oaxaca and Puebla, which for decades have been traditional migration states.
The project is being carried out in close collaboration and with funding from Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM by its Spanish acronym).
Since 2012, IOM Mexico has been providing post-arrival assistance at Mexico City’s international airport to migrants returned by air from the United States.
For more information, please contact
Thomas Weiss
IOM Mexico
Email: tweiss@iom.int
Tel: +52 55 5536 3922
Jose Ramon Cordoba
IOM Mexico
Email: jcordoba@iom.int
Tel: 3954 / 7775