Act Daily News
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Nearly two years after US President Joe Biden introduced the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Mexico is seeing a small however uncommon spike in Afghan migrants who’re searching for asylum or traversing by means of the nation.
In January 2023, almost 13,000 individuals registered purposes for asylum in Mexico. Among them have been 430 Afghans – the seventh highest nationality and the one nationality from outdoors the western hemisphere to make Mexico’s high 10 checklist, in response to COMAR, the nation’s refugee help company.
COMAR’s head, Andrés Ramírez, believes most of the Afghans are headed to the US southern border.
“The Afghans are the kind of people that actually want to go to the US, that’s what our reading is because you know that the culture is so different from the Mexican culture,” Ramírez advised Act Daily News by telephone.
Mexico’s asylum authority isn’t the one company noticing extra Afghans heading north.
Enrique Lucero, the migrant providers head of the northern Mexican city of Tijuana, on the Mexico-US border, says he began seeing a rise within the variety of Afghans in his metropolis final April.
“They are trying to cross to the United States to [seek] asylum,” he stated.
US information from the time interval recognized by Lucero does present a rise within the variety of Afghans crossing the US southern border and being processed by immigration officers. According to US federal courtroom paperwork, 410 Afghan adults have been processed in January 2023 – a greater than 1200 % improve in comparison with May 2022, when US immigration authorities encountered simply 31 Afghans.
Medical NGO Doctors Without Borders advised Act Daily News that it has additionally seen a rise in Afghans requesting providers at its Mexico City location in latest months, in response to Angel Resendiz, the group’s cellular well being exercise supervisor.
In January of this yr, 119 Afghans acquired basic well being providers info in Mexico City from Doctors Without Borders – almost equaling the whole variety of Afghans served by the group in all of 2022, once they noticed 144 Afghan sufferers, Resendiz stated.
The group supplies all kinds of informational and psychological well being providers, together with info on shelters, human rights, and social providers.
“When these populations are forced to flee their home countries, it implies that they are exposed to vulnerable situations during their journeys. And the longer the journey, the more vulnerable situations they will likely face,” Resendiz stated.
Given the relative rarity of Afghan migrants in Mexico, there’s typically a language barrier for providers supposed to help migrants.
While most Afghans converse Pashto and Dari, Resendiz says his crew solely has English, French, Portuguese, Creole and Spanish audio system accessible, and that on-line translation providers will not be excellent for health-related providers or medical analysis.
Tens of 1000’s of Afghans have been evacuated to the US when the Taliban returned to energy in 2021. The group’s takeover preceded a deepening humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, worsening points that had lengthy plagued the nation and creating tough situations for many who remained.
After the takeover, the US and its allies froze about $7 billion of the nation’s overseas reserves and reduce off worldwide funding – crippling an economic system closely depending on abroad help.
Already scarce humanitarian help diminished additional in December when the Taliban introduced a ban on feminine NGO employees – prompting a number of main overseas help teams to droop their operations within the nation.
A ban on ladies in Afghan universities has additionally prompted latest protests within the nation.
Source: www.cnn.com