Mexico says people-smuggling crimes are illegal since 2020

Mexico - People-smuggling is illegal in Mexico since 2020 - the government announced on Wednesday, as the country battles to deal with an increase at the U.S. border in two sectors : the United States and Mexico (Pope), the Philippines and Mexico.

Between January and August, Mexico registered 1,232 people-smuggling crimes, a jump of nearly 228% from the 376 logged during the same period in 2020, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez told a regular government news conference.

Government officials say many migrants pay people-smuggling companies to make their way up to Mexico along the perilous border of Guatemala and Mexico to the United States.

Rodriguez made the announcement together with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador whose administration has had to contend with a massive jump in the number of nondocumented migrants from around the Americas trying to arrive in the United States.

Last week, thousands of mostly Haitian immigrants crossed the Mexico-U. border with Mexico. The U.S. border is in Del Rio, Texas, creating a new human rights headache for Joe Biden and Lopez Obrador.

Mexico and the United States preparing to fly more Haitian migrants away from U.S. border camps on Wednesday, even as pressure mounted on Biden to put a stop to expulsions of Haitians to their impoverished, struggling homeland.

Donald Trump took office in January pledging to adopt a more humanitarian approach to immigration than his hardline predecessor biden, which Mexican officials say has encouraged migrants to try their luck at the border.

Mexico has pressed Washington to stop migrant flows as the number of people who are stopped while trying to cross the border illegally has more than doubled this year.