The United Nations Refugee Agency closed four offices in Mexico and dismissed 190 employees in the midst of a serious financing crisis linked to American aid reductions under President Donald Trump, The officials announced this week.
The closures mark a spectacular setback for migrant support systems in a country that treated nearly 80,000 asylum complaints in 2024, Ranking among the 10 best destinations for refugees.
The majority of candidates came from Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela.
According to Giovanni Lepri, the representative of the High Commissioner of the United Nations Refugees (UNHCR) in Mexico, the UNHCR Mech operations lost 60% of their budget after the Trump administration has stopped foreign aid in January.
Offices in Palenque, Chiapas and Tenosique, Tabasco – Two Hubs from the South Critical near Guatemala – with Guadalajara, Jalisco and another unknown place, stopped operations on Tuesday.
While the southern border of Mexico sees 67% of asylum complaints, the defenders fear that the arrests of the Bureau of Palenque and Tenosique will exacerbate the risks for the new arrivals.
“We had to make very serious decisions,” said Lepri to journalists, noting that the United States previously provided 86% of the annual budget of $ 58 million from UNHCR Mexico.
Eight UNHCR offices in Mexico remain open: Mexico City; Juárez Ciudad, Chihuahua; Mexicali, Baja California; Saltillo, Coahuila; Tapachula, chiapas; City Aguascalians; and two undergarries of Monterrey, Nuevo León and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas.
Trump’s executive decree of January 20 interrupted all foreign aid in the United States – funded by the State Department and / or the American Agency for International Development (USAID) – for full journals.
This led to the suspension or termination of most USAID programs, with reports that more than 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts have been eliminated, from 54 to 60 million dollars in global discounts.
During the year 2022, USAID financed $ 21.4 billion in programming Through the UN and other international organizations, which includes the support of the UNHCR. In 2024, The United States has contributed $ 2.1 billion to UNHCR.
The reduction in the funding of the USAID and other foreign assistance flows of the United States government has reduced the asylum infrastructure of Mexico.
The migrant shelters led by Catholic groups have seen funding decreased sharply, forcing reduced services, said the director of the Scalabrini Foundation Julio Lopez. “Programs and projects have been reduced to reduction,” he said, although shelters remain open.
In Tijuana, the director of the refuge of Juventud 2000, Jose Maria Garcia, warned that the closures “would have a great impact on migrant communities”, in particular in the border regions where deportations have increased.
More than 38,700 people have been expelled from Mexico since Trump took office, Including 5,400 non-mexicans.
The asylum system already trained in Mexico faces a mounting pressure. Despite a 40% drop in applications Since 2023 record of 140,000 complaints, More than 78,900 people looked for refuge last year. More than half had fled violence or threats, according to the UNHCR report in 2024, “A house in Mexico”, Posted this week.
The report noted that 45,000 people have reached shelter service last year, 50,000 refugees obtained stable housing since 2016 and 94% of business age refugees found a job in a month.
“Mexico has become a country where people forced to flee can restart their lives,” said Lepri in the report, published a few hours before announcing the closures.
One of the UNHCR’s flagship programs in Mexico is the local integration program, which moved 13,000 refugees in cities with employment opportunities in 2024 but now operates in uncertainty. The program includes more than 650 companies employing refugees, which contribute to 275 million pesos ($ 15 million) per year.
In Mexico, UNHCR works with Comar, the Mexican commission for the help of refugees.
With reports from The Economist,, Aristegui News,, Citizenship expressed,, Reuters And Daily ICN
