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Executive Summary For the past 25 years, the Border Patrol has tracked migrant deaths along the US-Mexico border. For nearly the same amount of time, it has also faced criticisms that it failed to capture the true number of migrant deaths in its tally. This article focuses on these undercounting criticisms and asks two questions: (1) How many documented migrant death cases are left out of Border Patrol's official data? And (2) what factors lead to the Border Patrol's migrant death undercounting? In particular, the article focuses on three South Texas counties: Brooks County, Kenedy County, and Maverick County. To answer the research questions, this article relies on comparative data analysis. In particular, it compares two person-level datasets: the Border Patrol's dataset on migrant deaths from 2009 to 2017 and county-level records from the Brooks County Sheriff's Office, the Kenedy County Sheriff's Office, and Maverick County Justices of the Peace over the same period. It then attempts to match each county-level record to a recorded death in the Border Patrol's dataset. Using this process, the article quantifies migrant death undercounting in South Texas, highlights geographic and temporal trends, and tracks the uncounted cases' specific characteristics. From 2009 to 2017, this comparative data analysis confirmed that the Border Patrol was undercounting migrant deaths across the three South Texas counties. Specifically, the article finds that the Border Patrol failed to include 139 cases, which totaled 19 percent of the counties' 749 recorded migrant deaths during the study period. This undercounting ranged from 16 percent in Brooks County to 24 percent in Maverick County and 29 percent in Kenedy County, with fluctuating rates over time. The uncounted cases also had specific characteristics. In particular, they were more likely to be skeletal remains, lack an identification, and be discovered by an external entity. These characteristics highlight the various factors behind the Border Patrol's undercounting, such as issues with the Border Patrol's migrant death definition, inconsistent data collection from external entities, and the agency's low prioritization of migrant death tracking. To address and remedy the Border Patrol's migrant death undercounting requires tackling each underlying factor. First and foremost, this article recommends that the Border Patrol fully train its agents on the agency's migrant death definition and ensure consistent and standardized outreach to external entities. Further, it recommends that the Border Patrol improve its migrant death count's accuracy through additional operational changes. These proposed changes include making "accurate migrant death counts" an official objective for the Border Patrol's Missing Migrant Program, prioritizing a two-way information-sharing process with county-level officials, retroactively including missed migrant deaths in the official count, and publishing more detailed person-level data on migrant deaths.

On December 1, 2018, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assumed office and promised to change Mexico's migratory policy. Initially, López Obrador championed a humanitarian approach to migration, placing migrant rights defenders in key policy positions and directing INM to issue an unprecedented number of humanitarian visas. However, this approach did not last. By June 2019, amid intense U.S. pressure, the López Obrador administration shifted its migratory strategy to an enforcement-based approach. As a result, Mexico has increased its number of apprehensions, detentions, and deportations. This report will detail López Obrador's migratory policy and its consequences during his administration's first year in office. This report's first chapter focuses on Central Americans' decisions to migrate to Mexico and the United States. It covers the factors that historically led people to leave their homes, including civil wars and natural disasters, which set in motion today's migration patterns. It also looks at the current factors driving migration, such as gang and gender-based violence, political instability, and a lack of economic opportunity. The report's second chapter outlines Mexico's legal framework for migration, which guides the López Obrador administration's response to Central American migration. It also provides an overview of each Mexican federal agency involved in migratory policy. This report's third chapter covers the López Obrador administration's migratory policies, starting with the initial push toward a more humanitarian focused policy. It also explores the López Obrador administration's Central American development programs and the mounting challenges for Mexico's underfunded refugee resettlement agency. Finally, the chapter also outlines the administration's shift to an enforcement strategy and the National Guard's deployment to the southern border. The fourth chapter chronicles these migratory policies' effects. It covers the policies' effects for Mexico's foreign relations, state and local level governments, civil society organizations, Mexican citizens, and Central American migrants transiting through the country. In particular it details how these policies have shifted migrants' transit routes, increased crimes against migrants, and ongoing xenophobic attitudes in Mexico. This report concludes with a series of recommendations for improving Mexico's migratory policies. These include: 1) putting Mexico's Ministry of the Interior back in control of the country's migratory policy; 2) strengthening INM's commitment to human rights through improved training and better infrastructure; 3); increasing the number of legal channels for Central Americans to work in Mexico; 4) expanding funding for Mexico's refugee resettlement agency; 5) streamlining Central American development programs; and 6) reducing the National Guard's role in migration enforcement. ; Public Affairs

Mexico's migratory laws outline a robust framework for refugee integration, but there are challenges with fulfilling the legal mandates. One primary challenge is a lack of institutional support for improving refugee integration at the federal, state, and municipal levels of government. In particular, financial resources and personnel have not kept pace with the increasing number of refugee applications, leaving COMAR without the capacity to fully address the current situation. To fill the gaps, civil society actors have stepped in, but their efforts cannot substitute for developing long-term institutional capacity. In addition to large-scale structural barriers, refugees face challenges in attempting to access employment, healthcare, and education. These challenges include but are not limited to low wages, informality, job market saturation, difficulty accessing financial institutions, burdensome bureaucracy, and a general lack of information about rights and procedures. This combination of challenges complicates refugees' integration into Mexican society. ; Public Affairs

This report examines the evolution of Mexico's migratory detention system, particularly with respect to legislative changes in 2008 and 2011 that decriminalized migration. Until 2008, irregular migration was a criminal offense, punishable with fines and jail time. In 2008, Mexican policymakers removed the prison sentences attached to irregular migration and turned it into an administrative infraction. This change was solidified in the 2011 Migratory Act. However, despite Mexico's decriminalization of irregular migration, migrants continue to be detained in prison-like detention centers. This report examines Mexico's current detention system and evaluates detention conditions across the country. ; Public Affairs

This report evaluates Mexico's migratory policies as well as the legal mandates of government bodies whose agents regularly interact with Central American migrants. It documents advances such as the decriminalization of irregular migration and the enactment of laws that protect certain high-risk groups. It also covers backsliding, such as when migratory officials and police officers fail to comply with Mexico's migratory laws. Additionally, the report describes the abuse of authority, corruption, and high rates of impunity within the Mexican federal agencies tasked with implementing migration policy. For over a decade, Mexico's government has increasingly viewed migration policy as a national security issue. This report will examine how Mexico adopted this lens and how a national security approach affects migrants traveling through the country. Increased levels of militarization along Mexico's southern border have coincided with elevated rates of detention and deportations for irregular migrants. These policies—including the most recent Southern Border Plan of 2014—have pushed migrants away from populated areas with heavier law enforcement presences, increasing their exposure to environmental and criminal risks. This report demonstrates how restrictive migration policies affect the risks that migrants encounter during their journeys through Mexico. It draws on data obtained from transparency requests, publicly available reports, and an original Migrant Risk Database. Finally, this report makes several recommendations to various Mexican agencies and organizations involved in migration policy. These recommendations aim to improve security for migrants transiting through Mexico. They also seek to enhance institutional effectiveness in agencies that deal with migrants. They generally represent short-term steps that could be implemented by the next Mexican presidential administration to improve protections for migrants and the country's overall migratory policy. However, for significant progress, Mexico will need to better address systemic issues that endanger migrants, including corruption, rule of law and access to justice, and the control of transnational criminal organizations. ; Public Affairs