The Mexican government is launching a new app designed to speed up the country's asylum process. According to CNN, the head of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) Andres Ramirez said that the application is needed to handle the huge number of asylum requests, especially in Mexico City. For the first time in history, in the first 18 days of May, more asylum applications were filed in Mexico City than in Tapachula — a city on the border with Guatemala, where the main flow of refugees traditionally comes to Mexico. According to Ramirez, during this time there were 3,300 requests in Mexico City, and in Tapachula — 3000.
The new app, loosely called the Pre-Registration System, will allow refugees to register their intention to seek asylum in Mexico online and is expected to speed up the processing of applications. The app is expected to launch next week for asylum seekers in Mexico City, with those in other regions accessing the app at a later date.
The new application for asylum in Mexico is similar to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's CBP One application in that you can begin the process by entering your information online. This is where the analogies end. The Mexico application aims to make it easier for those refugees already located in Mexico to acquire asylum in Mexico.
Currently, refugees in Mexico are able to complete an online application for asylum in the country. But you will only have to sign up to submit a printed application in person. This creates huge queues, first to purchase a queue number to submit an application, then to submit the application itself. In this case, it is necessary to physically track the progress of your queue by number. It is likely that the new application will allow you to receive a queue number for submitting an application online and notify you of the date when the application will be allowed to be submitted.
The head of COMAR believes the increase in refugee flows is partly due to the end of so-called Title 42 in the United States, which has resulted in many more people flocking to Mexico in hopes of crossing the Mexico-U.S. border. Ramirez speculates that many of those seeking asylum in Mexico are also waiting for an appointment in the CBP One application to become eligible to legally cross the U.S. border to file for asylum in the United States. Once in Mexico illegally, but given the option to regularize their immigration status in the country, these individuals will be able to continue awaiting assignment to CBP One without fear of being deported from Mexico.
From January 1 to May 18, 2023, more than 56 thousand people sought asylum in Mexico. At this rate, COMAR expects to have acquired a record 140,000 applications by the end of the year. During the first four months of the year, the top five nationalities seeking asylum in Mexico were Haitians, Hondurans, Cubans, Venezuelans and Salvadorans.