Mexico detaining twice as many Central American migrants as last year

Mexico’s government has ramped up the detention and deportation of Central American migrants, with deportations last month up more than 60 percent over March 2020.

Figures obtained by The Wall Street Journal show that 15,800 Central American migrants were detained in in Mexico in March, a jump of 32 percent over February. Deportations were up 65 percent over March 2020 and 61 percent over February of 2021.

Mexican officials also carried out dozens of raids at transportation hubs in March, detaining more than 1,200 migrants, roughly 30 percent of whom were minors, according to the Journal.

The figures lay out both the efforts that Mexico’s government is undertaking to stem the increasing number of migrants that have streamed to the U.S. border in the first few months of President Biden’s presidency. Preliminary Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data indicates that the U.S. is facing a 15-year high of migrants apprehended at the border.

The Trump administration pushed Mexico’s government to house refugees in the country while they applied for asylum in the U.S. under the policy known as “Remain in Mexico,” one of several Biden is reversing.

The Biden administration now faces criticism from Democrats over the conditions in facilities that house unaccompanied migrant children, as well as from Republicans over the increased number of border crossings. In response, the White House has pledged to address the problem and rebuild what it characterized as a system left “broken” by the Trump administration while urging migrants not to make the journey to the U.S.