The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, acknowledged last Tuesday that his country had received a complaint from the Government of Canada about the growing number of Mexican citizens who were requesting asylum in that nation.
During his usual daily meeting with the media, López Obrador acknowledged the increase in that figure and declared that Mexican authorities are investigating whether there is any relationship with organized crime.
"[Trudeau] raised it with me, that they had that concern and we agreed that the foreign ministers of Canada and Mexico were going to address this matter and there have already been several meetings about this, we are already taking measures and an agreement is being sought," he said during the press conference on Tuesday, cited by the newspaper Milenio.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (center) talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden in Mexico City, January 10, 2023. Associated Press
He reported that the Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, and her Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly, had met on several occasions to discuss the issue.
The Mexican president indicated that
an investigation had been launched
to find out if the increase in asylum applications had been driven by people who were really seeking that refuge "or is it a means [for crime] to enter Canada."
"We are seeing that, it is already being dealt with [...]. It is an issue that has not been raised by the Government of Canada [...] and we agreed to deal with it, but in a very respectful manner and with the aim of reaching a resolution. an agreement".
López Obrador specified that Canada did not want to take unilateral measures to confront the situation.
For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed in Ottawa on Friday of last week that his Government had begun talks with the Mexican authorities to reduce the number of asylum applications, and added that there are people who are helped by organizations of organized crime to reach their country.
[The Biden Government analyzes making asylum more difficult for immigrants to deport them more quickly]
From January to September 2023, people from Mexico reached
the highest number of asylum requests
–17,500–, a number much higher than that of Haitians, who are the second group in asylum requests, with 8,500, according to data from the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Commission, published by the Reuters agency.
Around 2,000 applications from Mexican citizens were accepted, Mexico News reported.
[Texas has spent about $148 million transporting immigrants on buses, according to a report]
Mexicans have not needed a visa to travel to Canada since 2016, but some Canadian officials have recently suggested that
situation could change.