JOINT STATEMENT: NGOs from the US and Mexico will document the situation of Venezuelan women in Chiapas and Oaxaca
November 07, 2022
Mexico City - From November 6 to 11, civil society organizations Apoyo a Migrantes Venezolanos, Women's Refugee Commission, Center of Democracy in the Americas y el Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración, AC (IMUMI) will carry out a fact-finding mission to Chiapas and Oaxaca to monitor and document the impact of regional migration policies on Venezuelan and LGBTQI+ women, namely the impact of expulsions under Title 42, humanitarian parole, the closure of the Panamanian border, and the visa application requirement to enter Mexico.
According to the Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, as of September 2022, 7.1 million of all Venezuelans globally were migrants or refugees, a consequence of the sociopolitical instability of their country. Of those, 5.96 million are in Latin America and the Caribbean, 82,900 are in Mexico, and 545,234 are in the United States.
Before January 2022, the majority of Venezuelan women and their families traveled by air seeking to settle in Mexico or the United States, however, the Mexican government decided to implement visa applications for the Venezuelan population as of last January 22, which resulted in increased transit by dangerous routes by land, including the Darién Gap. According to the Panamanian government, between February and August 2022, 67,441 Venezuelan people crossed between its border and Colombia, an increase of 5,800% compared to the same period of time in 2021. Meanwhile, in Mexico, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior, between February and August 2022 there were 33,159 arrests of Venezuelans, 3,200% more than in the same period in 2021.
On October 12, 2022, the governments of Mexico and the United States made public a bilateral immigration policy that places the Venezuelan population among the nationalities expelled to Mexican territory under Title 42. This measure, together with the announcement of the limited humanitarian parole program with very strict eligibility requirements, hinders the right of Venezuelans to apply for international protection. The policy entered into force on October 19, and although it is estimated that more than 7,000 people have been returned to Mexico, the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has not published any paths to humanitarian support or regular migration status for the population expelled from the United States, causing uncertainty, family separation, saturation of civil society shelters, and situations of violence against this population.
The fact-finding mission seeks to cover a part of the southern border of Mexico (Tapachula, Chiapas and Tapanatepec, Oaxaca) as they are the places where a significant number of Venezuelan women and their families are found due to the impossibility of regularizing their migratory situation, requesting international protection, or transiting to the United States. In addition, the group will meet with local civil society organizations and shelters as well as immigration and asylum authorities from both states.
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Center for Democracy in the Americas
Press Office (202) 234-5506