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 Editorials | August 2005 
Mexico Must Establish Migration Policies
 Enrique Andrade - Knight Ridder
The government has yet to learn how to sway U.S. migration policy, or find a way to reach a bilateral immigration accord that would include issues such as seasonal workers, migrant's rights, deportations, access to public services, etc. It has done little more than hope the U.S. Congress might favorably resolve the matter, even while knowing the bills that are pending.
Part of what has occurred is that Mexican officials are not sure what they are after and what they can achieve. There are no defined migratory policies, which there are with other issues not with respect to the legal and illegal departure of Mexicans from the country, or with regard to the legal and illegal entry of foreigners.
And how can Mexico seek an immigration agreement with the United States if it doesn't have pacts with countries of Central America, South America or Asia, with thousands of people from those regions entering Mexico illegally?
As important, the treatment of foreigners held in Mexico's immigrant detention centers is regrettably inhumane.
"Human rights violation are committed at the nation's 46 migratory stations, (and) it appears there is a general indifference towards them," said Mauricio Farah, a visitor general with the National Commission of Human Rights.
Farah also said that making note of a lack of funds, by the commissioner of migration and other secretariat of government officials, is no excuse for how the foreign detainees are being held.
There are shortages of food, water and baths. Even more serious is the documented fact that detainees may not communicate with their families, attorneys or others for help. On occasion the consulates of the respective countries know something about those being held, but more often they do not know whom or where they are, or how many have been taken into custody.
In 2002 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an agency of the Organization of American States, made a number of specific recommendations when it asked the Mexican government for access to migrant holding stations, and for permission to communicate with foreigners therein. The document includes narrations by people who had been detained who spoke of woeful living conditions, young children being locked-up for as many as 20 days, one meal a day, and something what was common in almost all cases the lack of information for detainees and for their families. And the IACHR specifically asked Mexico and its migratory officials to rectify those situations.
In its conclusion, the IACHR determined that migrants in Mexico continue to be the victims of frequent human rights violations.
Out of 44 young people interviewed by the nation's "Sin Fronteras" activist organization, only 14 knew why and for how long they might be detained, while the remaining 30 had no information. Foreign women, for a period from Aug. 19, 2003 to March 11, 2004, suffered discrimination without access to an adequate defense.
The report indicates that from January to December of 2003, 187,537 people were jailed for being in Mexico illegally, with the majority coming from Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil and China. It also said that the migrant jails where they were held are permanently overcrowded.
This data coincide with figures reported by the U.S. Border Patrol that calculated entry into the United States for the same period of "Other than Mexican" (OTM) migrants at approximately 150,000 people, with the majority coming from Central America and Brazil. Those and other OTMs apprehended, are according to reports more dangerous to deal with than Mexicans.
And the failure of Mexico and its secretariat of government to establish an earnest migration policy could allow people from all-over the world to cross the border.
Resources are certainly needed to strengthen vigilance throughout Mexico, but too they are needed in order to ensure those detained are informed of their rights while receiving dignified treatment. When possible they should be allowed to normalize their immigrant status, or otherwise permitted to promptly return to their countries of origin.
Clearly the immigration problem is not exclusive to the United States, and for Mexico to try to look after the rights of its citizens in the United States while steamrolling the human rights of foreigners in Mexico should and cannot be.
Enrique Andrade is a columnist for MexiData.info. Readers may send him e-mail at enriqueagandradep.com. |
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