Mexico Deports Nearly All Of Its Illegal Migrants Amid Coronavirus Fears, Government Reveals

JASON HOPKINS
The Daily Caller
Apr. 28, 2020

Mexico has almost completely cleared out its migrant centers as a precaution against the coronavirus outbreak, its government announced.

The National Migration Institute (INM), the agency in Mexico that manages immigration, said it has been deporting immigrants from the country’s 65 migrant facilities since March 21, according to Reuters. The actions are being made in order to comply with safety and health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico’s government migrant centers housed 3,759 people in March. In recent weeks, authorities have repatriated 3,653 migrants back to Guatemala, El Salvador and Guatemala by air and road.

INM’s migrant shelters and centers have a maximum capacity of 8,524 spaces, but the agency said only 106 individuals remain.

“Today, Mexico’s policy is to contain and deport,” Victor Clark Alfaro, an expert on immigration at San Diego State University, told Reuters.

Alfaro said the directive to reduce its migrant population coincides with pressure from the Trump administration to control its illegal alien population.

Read More