Carlos Jasso/Reuters
Asylum requests in Mexico have skyrocketed since President Trump took office, more than doubling, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing Mexican data. Between November 2016 and March 2017, 5,421 asylum requests were filed with Mexican authorities, up from 2,148 over the same period a year earlier, according to the report. Although it’s not clear whether the increase is a direct result of Trump’s immigration crackdown, the number of detentions along the U.S. Southwest border has also fallen over the same period, suggesting that fewer Central American migrants are trying to reach the U.S. Cinthia Perez, a director at COMAR, Mexico’s refugee agency, stopped short of attributing the increase in asylum requests to Trump, but hinted that many migrants might have been scared off by his harsh stance on immigration. “The views that people have about a political change, they definitely impact everyone's consciousness,” Perez told Reuters. Better conditions for migrants may also be a factor in the higher numbers of Central American asylum-seekers, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mexico was cited as saying.