Thursday, January 11, 2007

Undocumented Migrants are Criminals in Mexico

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The following are excerpts from Mexican attorney Enrique Andrade González' article in the December 11, 2006 issue of Mexidata.com.

You will agree that it's quite revealing.8 Excerpts from Undocumented Migrants are Criminals in Mexico:

1) Mexico is a nation that generates emigrants, with one out of every seven workers leaving the country. Furthermore, it receives immigrants from abroad, mainly from Central and South America.

2) In Mexico however, according to the General Population Law, a migrant who does not have proper documents legalizing his or her presence in the country is considered a criminal.

3) Mexico’s migration policy responds more to repressive police questions, rather than to an understanding of the phenomenon and respect for the human rights of foreign migrants.

4) Even the United Nations, through its Committee on Migrant Workers that oversees rights of all migrant workers and their families, has stated that there are legal violations in the detentions, holding procedures, detention facility conditions, processing of migrants, and in the expulsion of foreigners.

5) With respect to young foreigners found living in Mexico, both women and men, detentions are lengthy and arduous.

6) According to an August 19, 2003 to March 11, 2004 study by the “Sin Fronteras” organization, out of 44 young detainees interviewed only 14 knew why, and until when, they were being held. The remaining 30, foreign women, had no information. Calling them victims of discrimination without access to proper defense, the organization concluded that migrants in Mexico continue to be the subjected to frequent violations of their human rights.

7) In 2003, a total of 187,537 people were taken into custody for illegally being in Mexico. Most of them were from Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and China, and following arrest they were incarcerated in permanently overcrowded immigrant detention centers.

8) Although President Felipe Calderón said that gaining a migration agreement with the United States is not a priority — in order to distance himself from his predecessor, the setting of a public policy that specifically and integrally addresses all aspects of migration, including respect for the rights of migrant workers and the search for alternatives in understanding, must be a priority.

Posted by USTaino

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