Advance Information Technology to Improve Identification and Documentation of Irregular Extra-Regional Migrants to Speed up their Return

Mexico, due to its geographical location and extensive border with the United States of America, is a natural pathway for undocumented migrants in their search to enter the USA and Canada, which are the most important destination countries in the hemisphere. Furthermore, in recent years, facilitated by the advances of transportation means, the number of extra-regional migrants using this corridor has increased, particularly migrants from Africa, Asia and Europe. Intrinsically associated, an increasing economic and social hardship in many places of the world has pushed many people into trafficking and smuggling networks which use the Mexican territory for their unscrupulous activities.

The Mexican Government's capacity to deal with extra-regional migrants has been under enormous pressure and in risk of being overwhelmed. This is due to both the magnitude of the migration and to the particular fact that many of these migrants are undocumented or present fraudulent documents. This situation is exacerbated by other factors including: 1) Lack of diplomatic representations of countries of origin in Mexico; 2) Outdated databases; 3) Inaccurate identification systems; and 4) Inappropriate documentation equipment.

In view of the above, the Mexican Government requested IOM support to assist the National Migration Institute in the establishment of a migrant assessment system that takes advantage of new communication technologies, with the aim of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the identification and documentation processing of irregular migrants. The system will link Mexico City authorities with consulates in Washington DC for live interviews of migrants. The system will substantially reduce time for the processing and return of irregular migrants.