Mexico expects “constant and growing” waves of migrants from Central America

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Mexico will register “constant and growing” waves of migrants in the coming years, the country’s foreign affairs secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Thursday, April 8, and suggested that the United States should allocate US$2 billion in development aid annually to stem the tide.

Ebrard said that Mexico has proposed to invest money in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and he expects the United States to join in the effort. Most of the migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border come from those three Central American countries.

“If you look at a regional perspective with different approaches, but above all the demographic and economic, it is clear that the flows are going to be constant and growing in the coming years,” said the foreign minister.

“The United States would have to allocate US$2 billion a year to the development of these countries, in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador,” he added.

The U.S. Border Patrol recorded 168,195 migrant encounters last month, the highest number since March 2001.

Mexico’s reluctance to readmit Central American families with young children, especially in the state of Tamaulipas – which borders the Rio Grande Valley in Texas – has resulted in many of them being released into the United States while U.S. immigration authorities evaluate their asylum claims.

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