link to page 1 
Updated January 3, 2022
Mexico’s Immigration Control Efforts
Background
local security forces. Despite reform efforts, corruption
Since 2014, periodic surges in unauthorized migration from
within INM and impunity for crimes against migrants have
the “Northern Triangle” of Central America (El Salvador,
increased migrants’ vulnerability to crime and other abuses.
Guatemala, and Honduras) have overwhelmed Mexican and
U.S. officials. Mexico, like the United States, has struggled
In December 2018, President López Obrador took office,
to deal with large numbers of families and unaccompanied
endorsing a humanitarian approach to migration and
minors from that subregion and elsewhere, many of whom
pledging to promote development in Central America as a
seek asylum. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López
solution to unauthorized migration. Nevertheless, he did not
Obrador has accommodated Trump and Biden
increase funding for Mexico’s backlogged Commission for
Administration policies that shifted some of the burden of
the Aid of Refugees (COMAR). His government’s austere
interdicting migrants and hosting asylum seekers from the
budgets have not reflected his pledges to invest in the
United States to Mexico.
Northern Triangle.
Figure 1. Mexico: Reported Apprehensions of
Since April 2019, López Obrador has taken a harder line
Migrants from Northern Triangle Countries and
toward migration, in part due to U.S. pressure. His
Asylum Applications, 2010-2021
government has increased migrant apprehensions (see
Figure 2) and has restricted access to humanitarian visas,
particularly for those traveling in large groups (caravans).
As during prior enforcement surges, migrants have taken
more dangerous routes and increased their reliance on
smugglers. After Mexico deployed its new National Guard
for immigration enforcement, reports of mistreatment of
migrants rose. In January 2021, state police reportedly
massacred 19 people, including Guatemalan migrants, near
the U.S. border. In 2021, Mexico sought to keep asylum
seekers in southern Mexico despite dire conditions there;
began requiring visas for those from Brazil, Ecuador, and
Venezuela; and expelled some Haitian migrants to Haiti and
some Central Americans to Guatemala.
Source: CRS, based on information from Mexico’s Secretary of the
Interior.
Figure 2. Mexico: Recent Trends in Reported
Apprehensions of Central American Migrants
President Joe Biden initially sought to revise some
restrictive Trump Administration policies, but two of those
policies (discussed below) remain in effect at the U.S-
Mexico border. President Biden proposed a comprehensive
immigration reform bill (S. 348/H.R. 1177), which would
create a regional migration management system. Vice
President Kamala Harris has led efforts to secure Mexico’s
help in addressing the root causes of migration, interdicting
migrants, and combating alien smuggling and human
trafficking. In July 2021, the Biden Administration released
a Collaborative Migration Management Strategy that aims,
among other goals, to encourage burden sharing among
countries for sheltering vulnerable migrants.
Immigration Control
Since 2014, with support from the United States, Mexico
Source: CRS, based on data from Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior.
has established naval bases on its rivers, security cordons
north of its borders with Guatemala and Belize; and drone
Humanitarian Protection
surveillance. Unarmed agents from the National Migration
Mexico has a broader definition of refugee than the United
Institute (INM) have increased operations along train routes
States and the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention; Mexico
and at bus stations. INM has improved infrastructure at
recognizes a right to asylum based on “generalized
border crossings and created mobile highway checkpoints.
violence; foreign aggression; internal conflicts; massive
INM also has sought to professionalize its workforce and to
violations of human rights; and other circumstances leading
improve coordination with customs and federal, state, and
https://crsreports.congress.gov
link to page 1 Mexico’s Immigration Control Efforts
to a serious disturbance of public order.” As a result, many
support. Human Rights First, a nongovernmental
of the migrants arriving in Mexico from the Northern
organization, documented 1,300 publicly reported cases of
Triangle could qualify as refugees.
those subject to the MPP who had been murdered, raped,
kidnapped, tortured, or assaulted as of January 2021.
Asylum requests doubled in Mexico each year from 2015 to
2019 (see Figure 1). With support from the U.N. High
In February 2021, the Biden Administration suspended new
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), COMAR reduced
enrollments in the MPP. DHS began a phased process for
the backlog of asylum requests in 2020 before again
MPP enrollees with pending immigration court proceedings
struggling to meet record demand in 2021. Through
to enter the United States for processing. DHS sought to
November 2021, Mexico had received more than 123,150
terminate the policy in June 2021, but, after losing a
asylum requests, with most asylum seekers from Haiti,
Supreme Court appeal, DHS began a court-ordered re-
Honduras, Cuba, Chile, and El Salvador. Haitian asylum
implementation of the policy on December 6, 2021. DHS,
seekers rose from under 6,000 in 2020 to some 47,400. A
with Mexico, pledged to help MPP enrollees access shelter,
majority of the 6,400 Chilean applicants were born in Haiti.
counsel, COVID-19 vaccines, and transport to their
hearings. Those now subject to MPP may include any adult
U.S. Foreign Assistance and Policy
or family unit from any Western Hemisphere country.
Foreign Assistance
Title 42
Since June 2015, the State Department has spent more than
In response to the pandemic, DHS largely suspended
$58.5 million in Mérida Initiative funding to support
asylum processing at the U.S.-Mexico border in March
Mexico’s immigration control and border security efforts.
2020 under a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
U.S. funds have enabled the provision of nonintrusive
public health order (referred to as Title 42). The Trump
inspection equipment, mobile kiosks, canine teams, and
Administration then expelled most migrants without valid
vehicles, as well as training for more than 1,000 officials.
travel documents into Mexico or returned them to their
U.S. assistance helped Mexican agencies build a secure
home countries without asylum hearings. Mexico has
communications network in the southern border area.
struggled to absorb those migrants, particularly after a
Current funding supports the collection of biometric
revision to its immigration law prohibiting the detention of
information that interfaces with U.S. databases and efforts
minors in facilities with adults took effect in January 2021.
to counter alien smuggling and human trafficking.
The Biden Administration halted the use of Title 42 for
Since FY2018, the State Department has provided more
unaccompanied children and curtailed the policy for family
than $144 million through the Migration and Refugee
units but left the policy in place for single adults. From
Assistance (MRA) account to UNHCR to improve access to
February to November 2021, 970,308 migrants were
asylum in Mexico, provide legal assistance and shelter for
subject to expulsion, mostly to Mexico.
asylum seekers, and increase COMAR’s asylum processing
capacity. MRA funds have supported other humanitarian
Operation Sentinel
organizations involved in improving shelters, providing
In April 2021, DHS announced a new multiagency effort to
medical aid to migrants, and transporting migrants who
target transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) involved
voluntarily agree to be sent back to their home countries.
in smuggling migrants. With Mexico, the effort is targeting
individuals associated with such TCOs with visa
In December 2021, the United States and Mexico jointly
revocations and frozen bank accounts.
announced Sembrando Oportunidades, a new effort to
coordinate development projects in the Northern Triangle.
Congressional Action
Congress is considering legislation that would affect U.S.-
U.S. Migrant Protection Protocols
Mexico migration issues discussed in this product (such as
In December 2018, López Obrador allowed the United
S. 348/H.R. 1177 and/or S. 1358, which would create more
States to return Central American migrants to Mexico under
border processing centers). Congress is continuing to fund
the U.S. Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). From January
and oversee U.S. assistance to Mexico through the Mérida
2019 through its suspension in January 2021, the MPP
Initiative and MRA funds. The House-passed version of the
allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to
FY2022 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill
require more than 70,000 non-Mexican migrants who
(H.R. 4373, H.Rept. 117-84) would require a report on the
arrived at the border to wait in Mexico while U.S.
amounts, equipment, and types of U.S. training provided to
immigration courts processed their cases. The MPP
Mexican migration and law enforcement agents since 2016.
gradually expanded to include asylum seekers from Cuba,
These reporting requirements grew from U.S.-trained state
Venezuela, and Ecuador. In March 2020, DHS suspended
police’s complicity in a January 2021 massacre of migrants
all pending MPP hearings in response to the Coronavirus
in northern Mexico. See also CRS In Focus IF12003,
Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Migrant Smuggling: Background and Selected Issues, and
CRS Report R46999, Immigration: Apprehensions and
As MPP expanded across the U.S.-Mexico border as part of
Expulsions at the Southwest Border.
a June 2019 U.S.-Mexico migration agreement, incidents of
violence against migrants increased. Mexican border
Clare Ribando Seelke, Acting Section Research Manager
cities—some of which have high rates of violent crime—
were sheltering tens of thousands of migrants with little
IF10215
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Mexico’s Immigration Control Efforts
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10215 · VERSION 26 · UPDATED