Thread: Mexican Official Calls U.S. Detention Unfair

Mexican official calls U.S. detention unfair

By Aileen B. Flores / El Paso Times
Posted: 10/23/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- Chihuahua human-rights investigator Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson feels betrayed and disappointed.

One day after being released by U.S. immigration authorities, Hickerson said Thursday that he felt betrayed by the Mexican government for not coming to his aid after he was taken into custody against his will last week.

And he said he was disappointed in a system in the United States that allows immigration officials to take someone into custody for his or her own safety without legal recourse.

"I was in prison five days without a legal cause to process me -- why? Because the only thing I did was to say I was afraid to be in Juárez," Hickerson said at a news conference.

On Oct. 15, de la Rosa was crossing at the Paso del Norte Bridge into El Paso when officers recognized him as a human-rights activist and questioned him, said his lawyer, Carlos Spector.

Spector said border agents asked de la Rosa whether he was afraid to be in Mexico because of his work. de la Rosa told the agents that he was afraid but that he did not want asylum.

de la Rosa said that at the moment of his detention, he expressed fear to go back to Juárez because one of his bodyguards was recently killed and he needed time to find out why. He added that the slaying was not connected in any way to him. de la Rosa receives protection from Mexican authorities.

Early in October, de la Rosa said he could document 170 cases in which Mexican soldiers extorted, kidnapped, tortured, beat or killed innocent people while deployed in the state to limit the violence that has taken hold in Chihuahua.

"I want to know who ordered my detention for being afraid. É They didn't protect me; they detained me. Why did the Mexican Consulate not intervene?" asked de la Rosa, a former director of the Cereso prison in Juárez.

"The Mexican Consulate was notified of my detention immediately," he said.

"I feel betrayed by the Mexican consul; he didn't even show up to visit me once. This is not fair, not only because of who I am, but for the rest of the Mexicans," de la Rosa said.

But Mexican Consul Roberto RodrÃ*guez said that at the beginning of de la Rosa's detention, he took immediate action by sending a letter to Ana Hinojosa, director of field operations for Customs and Border Protection, asking her to inform the consulate about de la Rosa's legal status. The letter was sent on Oct. 16, one day after de la Rosa's detention.

RodrÃ*guez said the consulate did not become involved because de la Rosa did not request its help. On Monday, the office received a letter from de la Rosa claiming that his detention by U.S. authorities was unjustified. Also on Monday, RodrÃ*guez said the consulate sent another letter to Hinojosa seeking an explanation.

According to RodrÃ*guez, a Mexican citizen or the citizen's family has to request the consul's intervention in order for the consul to take action. If a Mexican citizen is requesting political asylum in the U.S., the Mexican Consulate cannot intervene.

Fernando Garcia, director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said his organization would request that U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, conduct a congressional inquiry to ask the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection for a clarification on the guidelines used in de la Rosa's case.

"We want to know who made the decision, what decisions were made under what circumstances or policies," Garcia said.

He said the Border Network for Human Rights would try to obtain the support of other organizations in seeking the congressional inquiry next week.

Garcia added, "We feel this was something that was wrong, something that was dysfunctional. É If this happens to knowledgeable people, so what is happening with other people who don't have the capacity to defend themselves?"

According to Customs and Border Protection officials, it's a policy for CBP agents to interview and determine whether a person who is trying to come into the U.S. has the proper documents.

If during the interview, a person expresses fear of being returned to his or her home country, CBP agents are required to process the person for an interview with an asylum officer.

The applicant simply needs to express fear to be turned over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a fear interview with an asylum officer.

Aileen B. Flores may be reached at aflores@elpasotimes.com;546-6362.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_13623057?source=rss#

So did he have the proper documents with him? He's complaining because they took him in for his own safety?!! Unbelievable!

Spector said border agents asked de la Rosa whether he was afraid to be in Mexico because of his work. de la Rosa told the agents that he was afraid but that he did not want asylum.

Can I assume he didn't have the proper documents and thought they'd let him in because he was afraid? He didn't ask for asylum so why'd they detain him? Why didn't they just send him back across the border? Some gaps in this story.

...the Mexican Consulate cannot intervene.

The Mexican government and its representatives do nothing but intervene in this country, everything from the administration on down.