Migrants who are stranded on the southern border of Mexico, one of the epicenters of the global migration crisis, face an increase in mental illnesses due to the change in US migratory policies. that are added to stress due to the lack of jobs and for the procedures to obtain documents, alerted activists.
Tapachula, a city with a high presence of migrants, It lacks hospitals or care clinics for people with psychological conditions.
Just in the middle of this month, the Organization Medical Without Borders (MSF) of Mexico reported an increase of more than 36% in migrant mental health patients that suffered some kind of extreme violence in the first quarter of 2025, compared to the last three months of 2024.
The situation on the southern border of Mexico reflects the immigration situation that has been aggravated since Trump’s arrival to power who, According to newspaper information The Washington Post, The aim of at least one million people this year, more than double the 400 thousand deportations made in 2011 by the government of then President Barack Obama (2009-2017).
The hardening of immigration policy It is one of the measures in which the most emphasis is putting since Trump He assumed the presidency of the United States on January 20.
What are the conditions?
Fabiola Díaz Ravelo, director of the Chiapas Foundation of Migrant Women (Chimumi), explained that in recent weeks they have seen an increase of up to 50 % in schizophrenic disorder diseases, Postraumatic, anxiety and anguish, both in men and migrant women who are treated by this institution.
The activist stated that in recent weeks they have attended about one hundred women with depression cases that go from a moderate to severe level.
“It is critical (the situation) for them, where there may be accidental death by starvation that do not eat anything, Because they don’t drink water, they don’t hydrate and suffer cardiac arrest or cerebral infarction, ”he said.
The specialist said that the nationalities that face this situation, mainly They are Honduran people, Salvadorans and Haitian women To whom, sadly, their consulates throw them into the streets.
The increase, the NGO pointed out, is due to the continuous “violence perpetrated by armed actors throughout the immigration route that crosses Central America and Mexico and to the impact of the restrictive immigration policy applied by the United States and other governments in the region. ”
Anguish and fear
Nayeli Sedeño, a migrant from Venezuela, told Efe that his situation is critical, Well, live with anguish and fear, already That people like her have to go to the streets to look for daily sustenance, where he does not feel security.
“We have faced ourselves to live on the street Because we are left without money and we sustain ourselves workOy asking (money) to follow the way, ”he said.
This woman who travels with three children, asked Mexicans more humanism, less discriminated againstny employment to work like any other person.
The leader of the Women’s Organization in movement for national liberation, Isabel Méndez Hernández, said that since the person decides Leave your family, their properties and their country, the traumas begin.
“It has impacted at one hundred percent definitely There have been many deaths, rapes, assaults and unfortunately their goals have not been fulfilled For the changes of government in the United States, from there the setback is coming and everything they left and sold for an American dream and then discriminated, ”he said.