According to Mexican security forces, they have arrested approximately 475,000 irregular migrants between October 1 and December 26. This has been reported by authorities on Friday, with US President-elect Donald Trump threatening Mexico with tariffs if it does not reduce the flow of illegal migrants across the shared border.
The sharp increase in detentions toward the end of the year signals an intensification of Mexican measures to deal with the flow of migrants. A week ago, the Mexican government said that 900,000 migrants had been detained since the beginning of the year.
Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente defended the country’s actions in the presence of President Claudia Sheinbaum by saying that the detention model used has been working quite well and can only improve. He said the US-Mexico border border detentions had gone down by 81% during mid-December this year compared to the same time last year.
The rise in detentions reflects Mexico’s efforts to reduce the flow of migrants through the country to the United States, a commitment made by Sheinbaum during a late November call with Trump. The call followed Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada unless the countries took more aggressive steps against illegal drugs, including fentanyl, and the flow of migrants.
According to immigration researcher Israel Ibarra of Colegio de la Frontera Norte, the rise in migrant detention coincided with Mexico’s efforts to address both issues of migration and drug trafficking as part of its long-standing dialogue with the US government.
