Immigration/Whats good for the goose.........
July 25, 2007
Immigration/Human Rights News
Ciudad Juarez Police Criticized for Migrant Detentions
As in the United States, the involvement of local police
and military forces in enforcing immigration law is a
question of hot debate and growing conflict in Mexico. A
report from Mexico's National Human Rights Commission
(CNDH) has criticized the Ciudad Juarez municipal police
force for detaining migrants, mainly Central Americans, and
turning them over to the National Immigration Institute
(INM) for possible deportation.
Mauricio Farah Gebrara, an immigrant rights investigator
for the Mexico City-based CNDH, said that Ciudad Juarez
police do not have the legal authority deliver migrants to
the INM unless specifically requested to do so by the
federal agency. The CNDH official contended that the
current practice of routinely turning over migrants to the
INM violates the Mexican constitution.
According to Farah, the local police are responsible for
approximately 26 percent of the detentions of undocumented
migrants in the border city. In many cases, migrants have
accused police officers of physical abuse and theft, Farah
said. Farah added that legal authority for detaining
migrants bases solely on their immigration status rests
with the INM or the Federal Preventive Police, which is
currently being merged with the Federal Agency of
Investigations to form one, unified federal police force.
Nonetheless, the Mexican army also detains migrants based
on immigration reasons.
In the southern border of state of Chiapas, several
Salvadoran, Honduran and Guatemalan migrants have filed
three formal complaints with the CNDH this year against
Mexican soldiers for robbery, physical aggression and
improper searches of women. A Chiapas-based human rights
organization, the Fray Matias de Cordova Center, charged
that the complaints have not progressed because the CNDH
demands "evidence" that the undocumented immigrants entered
Mexico.
Despite the CNDH's Ciudad Juarez report, local police
officers, especially agents assigned to the downtown
sector, have been recently spotted demanding documents from
individuals with migrant-like physical characteristics.
Human rights investigator Farah said that he expects to
visit Ciudad Juarez within the next several weeks to
investigate the issue.
Sources: La Jornada, July 23, 2007. Article by Angeles
Mariscal. Lapolaka.com, July 23, 2007. El Diario de Juarez,
July 20, 2007.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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