As encounters at the U.S. Mexico border have fallen in recent weeks, authorities in Mexico have reported a spike, with over 600,000 unauthorized migrants reported to be in detention there.
Since the same time a year ago, encounters by Mexican immigration authorities have increased by 200%, as around 1.3 million migrants move through the country, many trying to reach the U.S. border.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) told Newsweek that migrants are coming up against multiple barriers in Mexico, including little access to asylum and work permits, as well as the mass-bussing of people away from the border.
In a picture mirroring the scenes on the U.S. side, migrants are being taken away in buses to other parts of the country, without necessarily knowing where they are going.
"I wouldn't quite call it a strategy, what there is is just an aggregate of actions just stopping people from moving up... just a massive constant push to bring people down just one step, two steps," Rafael Velasquez Garcia, the IRC's director in Mexico, told Newsweek.
"There are numbers for deportations from Mexico, but they don't compare to what is this carousel of efforts that is just moving them elsewhere in the country."
Over 3,100 bus trips were made in 2023, carrying people away from border states further south into Mexico.
Garcia said that those who are dropped off do not necessarily stay in the areas Mexican authorities want them to remain. Many begin the trek back north anew.
"I've talked to people who say: 'It's the second time I've been pushed down'," Garcia said. "In many instances what we have is people that are going for family reunification and those people are not going to stop trying, because they just want to get reunited to siblings, sons, daughters."
The lack of access to work or legal status in Mexico make it difficult for migrants to stay.
The encounters by Mexican authorities do not include the nationality which makes up the largest proportion of encounters by American border patrol: Mexicans. Many are fleeing violence and difficult economic circumstances in their own country.
The U.S. and Mexican governments have collaborated over the past few years to try and stem the flow across their border, with Mexico agreeing to accept other nationals deported from the U.S., while also increasing checkpoints along key migration routes.
Immigration organizations argue that Mexican authorities have become more brutal in their methods, while immigrants and asylum seekers have become more desperate.
Often, that means turning to organized crime and human smuggling rings – with sub-cartels generating around $50 million a month from those seeking to cross the border.
"If you put yourself in their shoes and you are, you know, unable to reach the northern border because of checkpoints, you're unable to request asylum, and you're unable to work formally or informally because you know the then what choice do you have?" Garcia said.
"Obviously, you're going to go to whoever lies to you and tells you that there will get you across the border, for whatever amount of money they ask you," he continued.
"What's that expression? For every door that shuts a window opens? It's the opposite. Here the only doors that are open are those of organized crime."
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