WOLA has published an interactive map of Mexico’s southern border zone, an area that has become the site of a major U.S.-backed migration crackdown, raising serious humanitarian concerns. Laying out border crossings, train stops, new migrant routes, dangerous areas, security-force presences, and more, the map visualizes what is really happening along Mexico’s southern border.
This interactive map is accompanied by WOLA’s November 2015 report Increased Enforcement at Mexico’s Southern Border: An Update on Security, Migration, and U.S. Assistance. The report finds that since Mexico announced its “Southern Border Plan,” apprehensions of Central Americans in the country have increased 71 percent. Despite the dramatic spike in apprehensions and deportations, Mexico has not increased its capacity to screen migrants for protection concerns, leading many who could qualify for refugee status to be deported back to dangerous situations in their home countries. In addition, far from deterring migrants from traveling north, the crackdown—made possible in part by increased yet un-transparent U.S. funds—has caused migrants to take new and more dangerous routes.
View a full-screen version of the map here.
