Mexico has stepped up immigration raids - hauling hundreds of people off trains in recent weeks - to stem an increase in Central American migrants heading for the United States since Joe Biden took office, according to advocates and data from immigration authorities.
While Mexico has welcomed Biden's pledge to tackle the root causes of migration from Central America, it is concerned that the new administration's efforts to make it easier for people to claim asylum in the United States is encouraging migration and putting a burden on Mexico.
About 1,200 migrants from Central America - including more than 300 children - were swept up in raids between 25 January and 16 February along train routes in six southern and central Mexican states, as well as in the capital, according to Mexico's immigration agency.
Mexico's National Migration Institute said the decision to launch the train raids was not at the behest of the United States and it had not made such detentions in recent years because fewer migrants had used trains previously to travel northwards.
"Mexico is playing the role of stopping immigration to the United States," said Sergio MartÃn, head of operations in Mexico for humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders.
Despite the Mexico raids, US border agents conducted 100,441 apprehensions or expulsions of migrants at the Mexican border in February, the highest monthly total since a border crisis of 2019.
Central American migrants are fleeing criminal violence, economic collapse and a growing hunger crisis, exacerbated by devastating storms.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/15/mexico-immigration-raids-central-america-migrants
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