Mexican asylum seekers set sights further north

There has been a surge in the number of Mexicans who have requested asylum in Canada this year. Due to the relative ease of obtaining asylum in Canada compared to the U.S., visa-free travel between Mexico and Canada, and the threat of violence back home, more than 8,000 Mexican nationals have sought refugee status in 2022. That’s almost five times as many as last year and more than twice as many as in 2019, the last year before the pandemic and related travel restrictionst.

The vast majority of them are flying in to Montreal, which has many direct flights to and from Mexico.

In the first nine months of 2022, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, finalized more than 2,700 claims by Mexican asylum seekers.