In Chiapas, 1,024 documents have been issued, but nearly 13,000 migrants from the island remain stranded.
14ymedio, Angel Salinas, Mexico City, 18 September 2025 — In the first half of this year, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar) has issued a total of 3,342 humanitarian visitor cards to Cuban citizens. According to data provided to 14ymedio by the Ministry of the Interior, 1,024 documents were issued in the state of Chiapas between January and June, allowing migrants a regular residence, as well as “access to health, education, and employment services.”
However, in Tapachula, a city on the border with Guatemala, nearly 13,000 Cubans remain stranded without this benefit. “I don’t see an end. Everyone asks for dollars. At Comar, to give you the interview, the lawyers, to speed up the process. I handed over money, and I still don’t have any documents,” Matanzas resident Yaniel tells this newspaper.
“I don’t see the end. Everyone is asking for dollars. At Comar, to give you the interview, the lawyers, to speed up the process,” Matanzas resident Yaniel tells ’14ymedio’.
The migrant, who entered the country last February, claims that the procedures in Mexico City are faster. A Venezuelan with whom he shared a home told him he gave 1,000 pesos ($54) to an agent and “they gave him the visa.” In Tapachula, he claims people have spent 40,000 pesos ($2,179).
Official figures indicate that 254 Cubans received humanitarian cards in the country’s capital, while in Puebla, out of 189 applications submitted to immigration offices, 186 Cubans, only two Venezuelans, and one migrant from the Netherlands were granted humanitarian cards.
Puebla immigration agent Marco López told 14ymedio that most of the Cubans’ applications were submitted last March, “just as rumors of mass deportations from the United States under Donald Trump’s orders began to gain traction.”
López stated that nationwide there are 8,114 Cubans in an irregular situation. Of these, 7,118 “have already met the requirements and are awaiting resolution of their cases,” but another 996 have initiated the process.
Attorney José Luis Pérez asserts that the Comar figures are from completed records, but in reality there are more than 20,000 Cubans in Mexico seeking opportunities to regularize their status.
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