If your goal — having entered Mexico, seek asylum at the US border, and acquire asylum in Mexico for this purpose — bad idea. If your goal — At all costs, avoid being sent back to your home country when denied entry at a Mexican airport, seek asylum in Mexico — bad idea. If your goal — Avoid deportation from Mexico at all costs after the «U-turn» at the US border, seek asylum in Mexico — good idea.
It's no secret that some visitors come to Mexico for the sole purpose of — get to the northern border and seek asylum in the United States there. There is nothing reprehensible in this. If you do not have a US visa, apply for asylum at the Mexico-US border — almost the only available way to get to the USA. Both Mexico and the United States respect migrants who truly need asylum. But not all applicants have real reasons to ask for such asylum.
Caravans of migrants regularly «storm» Mexican-American border. The procedure for applying for an application is prescribed in American legislation, and how to implement a successful border crossing in practice is easy to find out in numerous thematic groups on social networks.
We will focus on only one point — applying for asylum in Mexico in order to re-attempt to cross the border and apply for asylum in the United States.
If upon arrival in Mexico you state that you have arrived to seek asylum in the United States, you will be denied entry. Because migrants passing through Mexico to the northern border only create problems for it, and if their attempt to cross the border fails, they are returned to Mexico. But you can come to Mexico for any other reason: for the purpose of tourism, coming to study or work, for treatment, to visit relatives or business events, etc. You can even ask for asylum immediately upon arrival in Mexico, but this should be the first phrase that the migration officer hears from you at passport control.
Once in Mexico, you will head to Tijuana, Mexicali, Nogales, or Laredo in hopes of crossing the border and applying for asylum on the US side. There is a long list of similar applicants at the border who have been waiting for their turn for months. While the epidemic continues, this queue is only growing, and the United States is letting in applicants in very measured doses. Then you will try to cross the border in another place, not formally designated for the passage of migrants, where there is no registration and no queues. Most often these are car crossings. But you cannot legally enter the United States without a visa, so you will try to fool the border authorities of both countries by pretending to be an American. It is important to add here that immigration control on the part of Mexico at many road crossings in the United States is selective or visually absent; you will cross the Mexican part of the border without problems.
If you manage to cross the border and tell a US immigration officer that you need asylum — consider your mission a success. If you fail, and you are turned away before crossing the border, you will be handed over to the Mexican police. In Mexico, you didn’t break anything, except that after making a U-turn you were driving in the oncoming lane. Therefore, most often you will simply be fined for violating traffic rules and released.
It is worse if, after crossing the border, the American officer considers that you crossed the border illegally and refuses your application, handing you over to the Mexican side. The Mexican police will take you to the immigration station. Some people think that this is a prison, but other than the lack of a chance to get out, it has nothing in common with a prison. Non-residents are held there until their immigration status in Mexico is confirmed. Some are released, others are deported. Deported for one reason — they violated the migration regime. They entered Mexico for one purpose, say, as travelers, but in fact this purpose was violated by an attempt to illegally cross the border.
Long backstory, but now about the main thing. Instead of deportation, you may be asked to apply for asylum in Mexico. If you have a reason to seek asylum in the United States, then the same reason will apply to your request for asylum in Mexico. You will think that remaining in Mexico while your asylum claim is processed will help you try again to enter the United States.
First minus. When you do end up in the United States, you will be asked, at the border or in court, what you did in Mexico and did you seek asylum in this country? Some are very meticulously questioned about all their activities on Mexican territory. If you answer “no,” you will be lying, and if the truth comes out, you will be denied asylum in the United States. If you say yes, you will also be denied because you already have or could have asylum in Mexico.
Only if Mexico denies you asylum can this be a definite advantage when applying for asylum in the United States.
Second minus. Once you receive refugee status in Mexico (one year after filing your petition!), you will not be able to purchase a US visa for at least 5.5 years until you obtain Mexican citizenship. 5 years after acquiring refugee status and a residence permit in Mexico, you will be able to begin the naturalization procedure, and after at least another six months, obtain a Mexican passport. Americans will deny you a visa while you are a resident in Mexico for humanitarian reasons.
Third minus. You are fleeing your country. Do you think it is right for you to return there while you are in Mexico as a refugee? In most cases it is legal — no, illegally or through third powers — as it turns out.
However, these disadvantages are not important for you, since your goal — USA, not permanent residence in Mexico.
Main advantage. If you find yourself in Mexico at an immigration station and are ordered to leave the country within 20 days, you can still apply for asylum in Mexico. This will allow you to stay in Mexico for some more time (a year) and make a second attempt at crossing to the United States. But it's not always that simple.
When filing a petition, you do not need a «case», as in the USA. Once your application is accepted, you will be given temporary visitor status for humanitarian reasons. But from the moment you submit your application until you are granted temporary visitor status, several weeks may pass, during which you will remain at the migration station. Then you will be released. But they will be required to confirm their location every week, which cannot be changed. Or they won’t let you out, that also happens. In any case, without knowledge of the language it will be difficult for you to successfully complete all the formal processes.
The Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) can actually take several months to a year to decide whether to grant refugee status. All this time, you have the right to legally stay in the country as a temporary visitor and even work. Now the commission is inundated with requests, and it seems that this is further slowing down its work. But in those cases where the reason for the request, in the opinion of the Commission, is far-fetched, the decision to refuse can be made very quickly. Such cases include persecution of social groups and for political reasons. Namely, it is on such reasons that «cases» those who gathered in the USA from Russia. The majority do not have any “cases” at all. After the refusal, you will again receive an order from the Mexican migration authorities to leave the country within 20 days.
In summary, how much time you will have after applying for asylum in Mexico and whether you will be able to use this time for a second attempt to enter the US is not known.
Next story — about applying for asylum in Mexico at the airport of arrival. Citizens of many countries, including the republics of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, are denied entry into the country upon arrival in Mexico. These citizens are included in the so-called risk group, since they most often use Mexico as a transit point on the way to the United States.
If you still decide to get into Mexico by any means in order to move towards the US border, carefully prepare for entry. On our website you will find many publications withadvicehow to secure entry into Mexico. If you have purchased an entry refusal, try again after some time. We understand it's money. But if upon arrival you decide to seek asylum in Mexico, first assess all the risks described above.
If you claim asylum upon arrival in Mexico, you will not be sent back to where you came from. But asking for asylum must be done correctly. You must declare that you are seeking asylum at the very beginning of passport control. You should not behave first as a guest of the country, but only after additional questions from the migration officer declare that you are a refugee. Moreover, you do not have the opportunity to declare that you are a refugee after receiving a refusal to enter Mexico. Although, if you believe that your rights have been violated because you had all the confirmations required for entry, you can file a complaint with the National Commission on Human Rights (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH), but you should also prepare for this.
Next, you will be taken to a migration station, where you can prepare an application for asylum, setting out the key facts of the persecution. If these facts are convincing, the application will be accepted, then you will be granted temporary visitor status and released. As we said, this will not happen immediately. If you fly into Cancun and seek asylum here, you are not allowed to leave the city. Next, you will be given a date for an interview, at which you will be able to present your arguments in favor of applying for refugee status and provide evidence.
General information about obtaining refugee status in Mexico is provided in thispublications.
What you do next with your refugee status in Mexico is up to you. But there’s no point in treating it like another victory if your main goal — immigration to the USA.
However, asylum seekers in Mexico on their way to the United States often have no choice. You won't ask — they will put you on a plane and deport you, and legal entry into Mexico will be closed for a long time. And if you ask — You will be released from the immigration station and given another chance to try to get into the United States while Mexico processes your asylum application. Each case is different, and often applying for asylum in Mexico does not solve anything.