Mexico reports nearly 1.4 million irregular migrants this year, high number of unaccompanied minors

Mexican authorities detected almost 1.4 million “people in an irregular migratory situation” between January and May 2024, the National Migration Institute (INM) reported this Sunday.

The NMI said the 1.4 million statistic included migrants from 77 different countries on the five continents from across the globe.

In a statement released by the Mexican government, INM detailed that immigration processes revealed that precisely 1,393.683 million foreigners traveled through the country in an irregular condition in the first five months of the year.

Of that 1,393.683 million, 738,270 adult men traveled alone while 362,979 were unaccompanied adult women.

“Separately, the INM said, 154,291 adults were located who were traveling in family units accompanied by 135,151 minors; while 2,992 unaccompanied minors were identified,” the INM stated.

The main country of origin of migrants is Venezuela, with 377,401 registered, followed by Guatemala (209,540), Honduras (144,499), Ecuador (136,699), Haiti (107,432), Colombia (70,371), El Salvador (52,636), Nicaragua ( 45,364), Peru (10,464) and Cuba (27,404).

In addition, other countries of origin stood out such as Senegal (20,847), Guinea (19,922), Dominican Republic (16,228), China (13,780), Brazil (11,058), Mauritania (9,757), India (8,914), and Angola ( 7,037), among others.

Likewise, the Mexican government organization specified that the unaccompanied minors were from Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia, Haiti and Nicaragua.

However, this same week, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, denied that there is an overflow of the migratory flow in the country, after the tightening of the anti-immigrant measures of the U.S. following a recent executive order signed by President Biden, which restricts asylum applications and expedites deportations.

Irregular migration intercepted by Mexico has tripled in the first quarter of the year to almost 360,000 people amid growing operations, although the Mexican government affirms that the migratory flow has decreased.