"People don't feel safe or protected in the US." The number of Mexicans seeking asylum in Canada skyrockets

By Zachary Kamel -

MONTREAL — Pedro Meraz remembers that living in Colima, Mexico, was like living in a war zone, with shootings, burning cars and dismembered bodies left outside schools.

When his wife Rocío González, a 28-year-old lawyer who worked with battered women, began receiving death threats from a cartel and local authorities ignored her pleas for help, they knew they had to go.

“They knew where we lived and what car we drove,” said Meraz, 41, who taught at the University of Colima, near the Pacific coast and about 301 miles (485 kilometers) west of Mexico City.

“Feeling that you are going to lose your life, or one of your daughters, I don't mind starting from scratch,” she said.

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The family is part of a surge in the number of Mexicans who have applied for asylum in Canada this year.

Due to the relative ease of obtaining asylum in Canada compared to the United States, the waiver of visas between Mexico and Canada, and the threat of violence at home, more than 8,000 Mexicans have applied for refugee status in 2022. That's almost five times more than last year and more than double that of 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that accompanied it.

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The vast majority of them are flying to Montreal, which has many direct flights to and from Mexico.

Among them is Viviana Tapia González, a human rights activist and mother of four from Aguascalientes, about 264 miles (425 kilometers) northwest of Mexico City, who said she left Mexico in January after being attacked by military.

She said her work with the families of missing and murdered women and girls made her a target.

“The death threats were constant,” he recalled.

“I thought it was the last option I had to be safe.

I work for many causes and help many people.

I didn't want to stop helping, but I also have to protect (and) take care of myself."

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Tapia González has been living in a Montreal women's shelter while awaiting a decision on her asylum application, which she fears will be rejected.

If your application is denied, you would not be alone.

In the first nine months of 2022, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board, an independent court that investigates and decides asylum cases, finalized more than 2,700 applications from Mexican asylum seekers.

Of those, 1,032 were accepted, 1,256 were rejected and the remaining more than 400 were abandoned, withdrawn or had other results, said Christian Tessier, spokesman for the IRB.

Refugees are processed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after crossing the Canada-US border near Hemmingford, Quebec, on August 6, 2017.Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images

In Canada, applicants must meet the United Nations definition of a “convention refugee,” which means they are outside their home countries and have a well-founded fear that they would be persecuted if they returned based on their race, religion, political opinions, nationality or affiliation to a social group.

If not, they must show that they need protection and that they cannot safely return to their home countries without risking torture, cruel or unusual punishment, or death.

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However, despite the risk of rejection, the increase in Mexicans applying for refugee status in Canada persists.

The Welcome Collective, a Montreal-based charity that provides essential goods to new asylum seekers, said half of the group's current clients come from Mexico, an increase of 300% compared to the first months of the year.

“They had to flee due to violence and other humanitarian reasons.

To find a better place for their children,” explained Flavia Leiva, the group's volunteer and outreach coordinator.

As for the cause of the increase in applicants, Leiva suggested that social media is playing a role.

“There have been YouTubers and some TikTok videos talking about how easy it is to come to Canada,” he said.

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At least one YouTube video that was posted 10 months ago and made for a Mexican audience explains the Canadian immigration process in Spanish and has more than four million views.

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Since the start of the pandemic, Mexicans have had more difficulties applying for asylum in the United States.

A US public health rule that suspends the right to seek asylum in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has fallen disproportionately on Mexicans.

Title 42 authority has been used to remove migrants more than 2.4 million times since it was introduced in March 2020.

What adds to Canada's appeal is that Mexicans have not needed a visa to travel to the country since the Canadian government lifted the requirement in late 2016.

Leiva also believes that more Mexicans prefer to migrate to Canada instead of the United States because they think it is safer.

“In the United States they put them in cages, the conditions are not so good.

People do not feel safe or protected,” Leiva said.

Meraz said he and his family decided that Canada would offer them the best opportunity to start over.

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“My wife investigated the existence of international treaties to protect people who are at risk,” he said.

She referred to Canadian policies and regulations that protect women and children, as well as the country's comparatively low crime rate.

"The United States was never on our minds, as there is a lot of violence...attacks in which many innocent people die," Meraz said.

"Canada, statistically, has a very low rate of violence and its quality of life is much better than the United States."

He said his family chose Montreal over another Canadian city for logistical reasons, though he is thinking about it.

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“If they asked me right now if I would choose another place, then maybe,” Meraz explained, noting that now he and his family must learn French.

Hayet Mohammed, who manages the French-language program at Carrefour Solidarité Anjou, a nonprofit organization that helps newcomers settle in Quebec, said not only is it easier to obtain refugee status in Canada, but there is many resources for asylum seekers once they arrive.

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“They can work as soon as they have refugee status and they have the right to (French) courses given by the (Quebec Immigration Ministry), which provides them with financial help and, lastly, there are many job opportunities, and they don't run the risk of finding themselves unemployed,” said Mohammed.

“As a newcomer myself with my small family, there is no other country that gives immigrants so many facilities in terms of training, work and child benefits.

All this makes people leave their countries of origin and come to make their lives here, thousands of kilometers from their families”, he explained.