Tegucigalpa, Honduras.- Honduras, in addition to being an important point for the passage of migrants to the United States, it also represents one of the countries with the highest migratory flow.
This year, Honduran migrants rank third with the largest number crossing Mexico irregularly, according to statistics from the Mexican government’s Migration Political Unit.
According to the data analyzed by EL HERALDO, in addition to being the third country with the most migrants crossing the borders of the Aztec country, the migratory flow of compatriots during January and August of this year increased, compared to the same period of 2023.
A total of 74,220 Hondurans arrived in Mexico irregularly between January and August of this year, placing compatriots in the third place of nationalities with the highest entry of migrants.
Secondly, there are those of Ecuadorian nationality with 92,487 people; while in the first place there are Venezuelans, in eight months of 2024 they entered Mexico irregularly 266,846.
Below Honduras, Guatemalan migrants are located; the Government of Mexico counted the entry of 67,486 people from the neighbouring country; in fifth place, with 59,434 people, are Colombian nationals.
Of the total number of Honduran migrants in Mexico, 55,659 declared as “foreigners” submitted – that is, they are persons subject to a procedure dictated by the National Institute of Migration of that country, through which their temporary accommodation is agreed as long as their stay or return assistance is regularized.
The rest of the nationals (18,561) were called “traded foreigners,” the term refers to persons to whom a migration administrative procedure is initiated, and are channelled to the shelters for temporary accommodation as long as the relevant protection measures are issued and their stay or assistance for return is regularized.
The number of Hondurans registered by the Mexican government this year represents 9% of all migrants from America who arrived irregularly in the country (835,134), according to data from the Mexican institution.
Increased migratory flow
Between January and August of this year, the number of migrants crossing the Aztec country exceeded that of the same period in 2023, when they were a total of 70,574 people; however, throughout 2023 118,984 Hondurans arrived in Mexico.
Last year Honduras was the second country, after Venezuela, with the largest number of migrants entering Mexico.
The figures reveal that the migration crisis in Honduras continues to increase, due to the lack of concrete policies to improve the living conditions of Hondurans, which guarantee their stay in the country.
César Castillo, coordinator of the Migration Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) said that the data show that more Hondurans are going out in search of American dreams every day.
The issue of migration remains an important issue, perhaps we no longer see the exoduses as in 2018 with the caravans and crises of 2014 with unaccompanied migrant children, but a significant population continues to go to the United States; we have not managed to stop that, because the country has not been achieved in the way we want,” he said.
The expert emphasized that until the problems of violence, lack of employment and access to better living conditions for citizens are resolved, the population will continue to be expelled.
Although Honduras is the third country with the largest number of migrants entering Mexico, it is the first to apply for refuge in that country, the Mexican Commission for Assistance to Refugees (Comar) recently announced.
Of the 66,179 applications received this year (until the end of October) about 40%, or 24,932 are from Hondurans.
That amount could increase, Castillo estimated, due to the results of the recent presidential elections in the United States.
With Donald Trump’s victory as the U.S. nation’s 47th president, and the strict immigration policy he announced during his campaign, many migrants will make Mexico his home, the academic said.
The extent that the country’s entry is restricted will increase the stay in Mexico, and many of the migrants, including compatriots, will stay; there are many Hondurans who have made Mexico not only a transit country, but a country of destination, and this is reflected in Honduras being the first place in applications for refuge in Mexico, he said.
Activists and migrants themselves agree that Trump’s tough immigration policy will lead to an increase in the flow of migrants on Mexico’s northern border.
It is possible that migrants will stall in Ciudad Juárez, as has happened on other occasions, Francisco Segovia, director of the Hostel of the Frontera de Gracia, located between the Paso, Texas and Mexico, told international media.
For the next few months experts augur a greater number of migrants, of all nationalities, in Mexico, trying to cross into the United States before the Trump administration takes office.
This article has been translated after originally appearing in El Heraldo