Advocates: Mexico unprepared for more asylum seekers

MEXICO CITY – One day after the Trump administration said that domestic and gang violence won’t justify asylum requests, human rights advocates in Mexico are saying their country is unprepared to receive more such migrants.

Ximena Suarez-Enriquez of the Washington Office on Latin America says that Mexico isn’t ready to take those turned away by the U.S. She says that on the contrary, Mexico may violate migrants’ rights.

Mexico is currently facing a massive backlog of applications, mostly from Central Americans, for refugee status. The number of applications has increased six-fold since 2014, reaching 14,596 last year.

The comments came during the presentation of a report Tuesday detailing the Mexican government’s uneven response to the National Human Rights Commission’s recommendations on its treatment of migrants.