Lengthy waits to regularize immigration standing and restrictions on motion out of southern Mexico have fueled a black market in Mexican beginning certificates and residency playing cards for Cuban migrants stranded in Chiapas, in line with reporting by Noticias Telemundo.
The state concentrates the biggest share of Cuban regularization requests nationwide, and migrants say delays have left many unable to work legally or journey onward.
Óscar, a 30-year-old Cuban who spoke anonymously to Telemundo, stated he witnessed the sale of fraudulent paperwork in Chiapas. “I do know a number of individuals who pay and instantly get a course of, a response, or their residency—cash solves it,” he stated.
Óscar arrived in Tapachula in late 2024 and waited almost a 12 months for a brief residency software primarily based on household reunification and not using a choice. Throughout that point, he stated, he was twice detained when trying to go away the state, which Mexican regulation restricts for migrants with out papers.
Chiapas accounted for 67% of Cuban regularization requests in Mexico from January to November 2025, with 1,049 of 1,575 functions nationwide, in line with the Nationwide Migration Institute. Activist Luis Rey García Villagrán advised Telemundo that whereas doc fraud has existed for years, the market expanded after January 2025 as migrants sought “authorized certainty” to keep away from turning into “ghosts in a migratory limbo.”
Two different Cuban migrants stated alleged Mexican attorneys supplied beginning certificates and momentary or everlasting residency playing cards for between 9,000 and 26,000 pesos ($500 to $1,500). In early January, Chiapas prosecutors arrested three civil registry officers for illegally issuing beginning certificates to foreigners.
“They had been issuing beginning certificates to overseas nationals in collusion with folks concerned in migrant trafficking,” state prosecutor José Luis Llaven stated.
Context from southern Mexico underscores the pressures driving the commerce. Reporting by Diario del Sur in November described small teams of migrants avoiding checkpoints after repeated caravan breakups, trying to succeed in Mexico Metropolis or northern states independently.
In the meantime, a separate case documented by CiberCuba highlights the dangers: greater than a 12 months after about 40 migrants—largely Cubans—disappeared alongside the Chiapas coast, households say they nonetheless lack clear solutions about their destiny.
Óscar stated he in the end reached Mexico Metropolis with out utilizing faux paperwork and should now restart his software. He referred to as it unfair that others pays to advance, however added he understands the desperation. “No Cuban needs to return to Cuba,” he stated.
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