Human rights groups sue US over immigration payments to Mexico
Nina Lakhani in Mexico City Friday 12 February 2016 19.57 GMT
Coalition sues US Department of State to force it to reveal how much it pays Mexico to stop Central American migrants from reaching the US border
A coalition of human rights groups are suing the US State Department to make it reveal how much it is paying the Mexican government to stop migrants and refugees reaching the US border.
Mexican and US organisations led by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles are demanding records which identify the type and amount of financial aid it provides Mexico’s National Institute of Migration, known by its Spanish initials, INM.
A freedom of information request was made last September following mounting concern about the huge increase in detention and deportation of Central America migrants in Mexico amid pressure and financial aid from the US.
Mexican authorities detained 190,366 people in 2015 – 120% more than in 2013, according to official figures. It deported 155,418 people last year, compared to 80,902 in 2013.
Almost 98% of those deported in 2015 were from the violent northern triangle of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala where people are fleeing a lethal mix of gang warfare, corruption and extreme poverty.
Detentions have surged since Mexico launched the Southern Front Plan in July 2014 just days after Barack Obama declared the surge in unaccompanied Central American child migrants seeking refuge on the us child migrants a humanitarian crisis.
Since then, at least 5,000 Mexican federal police, army and navy officers have been deployed across the country to work alongside immigration officers to help stem the flow of northward-bound migrants.
Public documents show that the US State Department initially provided $86m to train the security forces and modernise inspection and communication equipment. But it is unclear how much from the $2.5bn Merida Initiative and other aid programmes have been redirected towards tightening Mexico’s southern border and stopping the flow of migrants.
The five human rights groups, along with an Episcopal bishop in Los Angeles, are seeking audits and other financial documents which demonstrate how the Mexican government uses US aid for this program. They also want information on how migrants are treated in detention centres, and whether those fleeing violence are being allowed to seek asylum as dictated by international and Mexican human rights law.
There is ample anecdotal evidence that people are being denied the opportunity to seek asylum under an undeclared deportation quota system operated by INM which breaches international law. A Guardian investigation last year found that the US was deporting undocumented migrants to face the threat of imminent violence, and identified several deportees who were murdered within days or weeks of their return.
Alex Martínez, a former head of the INM, told the Guardian that although a 2007 law had decriminalised irregular migration through Mexico, the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto had reverted to treating undocumented migrants as criminals.
“Mexico is hunting down migrants like criminals, abusing their human rights than in the US. Most people are not permitted to go through the asylum process, they are quickly deported.”
“The Americans started paying Mexico in the past three years, this didn’t happen before,” he added.
The legal challenge was launched this week after the state department failed to provide the information.
The claim states that the state department’s refusal to process his request or release the records is “shrouding US support for Mexico’s unlawful interdiction program in secrecy”.
“Mexico’s really playing hardball, and detains and then returns the vast majority of these people with no fair assessment about the type of danger they face if they are returned,” Peter Schey, director of the Center for Human Rights, told Courthouse News.
The organisations bringing the case are Human Rights Watch, Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano, Red Mexicana De Líderes Y Organizations Migrantes, Red De Pastores y Lideres Latinos Del Sur De California and Right Reverend Jon Bruno.
Human rights groups sue US over immigration payments to Mexico | US news | The Guardian
