Latest news with #COMAR
Express Tribune
19-05-2025
- General
- Express Tribune
Migrant dies seeking to cross Channel
An official of the Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) talks with migrants outside the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR), as they wait in line to regularise their migratory situation in the country, in Mexico City, Mexico January 24, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS A migrant has died and another remains missing after a boat carrying would-be asylum seekers attempting to cross the Channel broke apart overnight Sunday to Monday, French authorities said, with 200 people pulled from the water since Sunday. Sixty-one migrants were rescued after the accident off the French coast, said France's Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea. And in two separate incidents on Sunday, another 139 migrants were rescued off northern France, the maritime prefecture added Monday afternoon. "There were a lot of departures. An overloaded boat broke apart," the prefecture said. "One person died." Authorities were notified at around 2:30 am (0030 GMT) Monday, with a French rescue tugboat, British vessels and a French navy helicopter deployed to assist the migrants. The survivors, including a child and his mother suffering from hypothermia, were evacuated by helicopter and hospitalised in the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France. And the 139 people rescued on Sunday were transported to the northern port city of Calais, said the maritime prefecture. According to authorities, at least 12 migrants have died since the beginning of 2025 while trying to reach England aboard small boats. A total of 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to cross the Channel aboard small boats, a record since the rise of crossings in this area in 2018. Between January and December 2024, more than 36,800 people arrived in Britain via these dangerous crossings - a 25-percent increase compared to 2023.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump crackdown spurs migrants to seek refuge in Mexico
After US President Donald Trump dashed her hopes of gaining asylum in the United States, Arianne Dominguez joined hundreds of other migrants seeking refuge in Mexico instead. The 24-year-old Cuban arrived in Mexico less than two weeks before Trump took office on January 20 and almost immediately halted access to an app introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden to help process claims for entering the United States. "I was in shock," Dominguez said. "I thought about my family in Cuba who were hoping I could get to the United States. Then I had to think about plan B," she told AFP. The alternative she decided on was to stay in Mexico and obtain refuge status. She went to an office of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) in a Mexico City suburb that is busy dealing with migrants seeking asylum in the Latin American nation. Venezuelans, Cubans and other foreigners fleeing poverty, violence and political persecution wait in line for days to begin the process. Juan Carmona, a 50-year-old Venezuelan mechanic, decided to stay in Mexico with his wife because they were unable to reach the United States. "We decided on Mexico. We liked it a lot and for now we want to do this in the best way possible, completely legally, not to become undocumented," he said. In 2024, Mexico granted refuge to more than 26,800 foreigners, according to official figures. Migrants seeking assistance from the Mexican refugee agency have been waiting for days, some outdoors or sleeping in tents. Others are on waiting lists operated by the migrants themselves. - 'Things are not good' - In the southern city of Tapachula, long queues have also formed outside the COMAR offices as migrants wait under the gaze of soldiers guarding the building. Many of the migrants had -- or were requesting -- appointments with US authorities through the CBP One app. But now they see seeking asylum in Mexico as their best option for the moment. "We're here to see if we can work while we're here or to make a life here. Things are not good," says Jose Ricardo Moreno, a 60-year-old Cuban who is traveling with his wife and 22-year-old daughter. Before Trump took office, Moreno was given an asylum appointment in the United States for February 2, but he lost it when CBP One was axed. Janqui Martin, a 43-year-old Cuban doctor, said he was tired of moving between countries and decided to stay in Mexico. "Mexico has welcomed us, opened the door to us and we have the possibility of working," said Martin, who left his wife and 12-year-old daughter in Cuba. On his first day back in office, Trump declared a national emergency at the US southern border and vowed to deport "millions and millions" of migrants. His administration said it would also reinstate a "Remain in Mexico" policy that prevailed during Trump's first term, under which people who apply to enter the United States from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided. The White House has also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border. Trump's office additionally said he had ordered 1,500 more military personnel to the border. Shakira Chaparro, a 29-year-old Venezuelan waiting in the border city of Tijuana, said that crossing over illegally was now too risky. "The best option is to stay here, find a way to get a permit to stay for a while or return to our country," she said. bur-yug/dr/bfm
