The State of Human & Civil Rights in Mexico

Figure 1: Documented Abuses by Agency

Figure 2: Identified Abuses by Agency

Categories & Subcategories of Abuse

Verbal and/or Psychological Abuse

Violation of Due Process of Law

Corruption by an Authority

27 Categories of Abuse

11

Sub-categories of Abuse

Unlawful Prolonged Detention

Deprivation of Basic Needs in Detention

Physical Abuse

Unlawful Temporary Detention

Application of Racial Profiling (Racism)

Violation of Freedom of Transit

Unlawful Seizure of Property

Exposure to Criminal Violence in Mexico

Endangerment of Life

Unlawful Arrest

Improper Search

Destruction of Documents

Family Separation

Use of Locks in Shelter Cells

Improper Use of Firearms

Murder

Property Damage

Improper Search of Person (Intimate Parts)

Police Action on Religious Premises

Wrongful Deportation

Retaliation by Authority

Gender Discrimination

Extortion

Forfeiture of Documents

VERBAL AND/OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE

Harassment and Threat of Death by an Authority

DEPRIVATION OF BASIC NEEDS IN DETENTION

Overcrowding

Deprivation of Medical Attention

Deprivation of Basic Needs in Detention of Minors

PHYSICAL ABUSE

Use of Disproportionate Force

Use of Disproportionate Force on Pregnant Woman

Disproportionate Use of Force on a Minor

CORRUPTION

Theft ENDANGERMENT OF LIFE

Placed in Danger of Death by Reckless Driving

Placed in Danger of Death of a Minor

Placed in Danger of Death in Arrest Situation

Figure 3: Categories of Abuse and Count by Agency

Figure 4: Sub-categories of Abuse and Count by Agency

Documentation Scope

Sonora Guanajuato

Mexico, D.F.

Oaxaca

Collaborating Mexican Organizations:

Comite de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa

Coalicion Indigena Migrante

Organizacion Mexicana de Derechos Humanos

Comite Poblano de Apoyo a los Migrantes

Chihuahua

Coahuila

Puebla

Veracruz

Tamaulipas

Chiapas

San Luis Potosi

Graph 1: Abuses

involving the National Institute of Migration (INM)

Highlited Cases: National Institute of Migration (INM)

Case 3

Transcriber: KG

Documenter: KG

Incidents of Abuse

Verbal and/or Psychological Abuse

Name of Person Abused: R

Age: Unknown

Nationality: Guatemalan

Date of the Incident: May 21, 2022

Agency: National Institute of Migration (INM)

Type of Alleged Abuse: Verbal and/or Psychological Abuse

Harassment and Threat of Death by an Authority Deprivation of Basic Needs in Detention

Overcrowding

Location of Incident: Migratory Station Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

"On May 21 I was detained at the Reynosa Tamaulipas immigration station, and an agent of the National Migration Institute told me: 'Don't keep fucking around, son of a bitch, because I will take care of disappearing you, I will take you in my truck, shoot you and throw you out, after all it is very common for people to disappear here, in Reynosa,'. The immigration station where I was detained is very crowded and the people are crammed together, in inhumane conditions and are not allowed to go out to the patio, not even to sunbathe, they have us practically as criminals, without being able to see the light of day".

Highlited Cases: National Institute of Migration (INM)

Case 1

Transcriber: KG

Documenter: KG

Incidents of Abuse

Violation of Freedom of Transit

Name of Abused Person: YG

Age: 16

Nationality: Mexican from Tzotzil Indigenous Community

Date of Incident: November 23, 2021

Agency: National Institute of Migration (INM)

Type of Alleged Abuse: Violation of Freedom of Transit

Unlawful Temporary Detention

Application of Racial Profiling (Racism)

Location of Incident: Mexico City, Puebla Highway.

"I am originally from the Tzotzil indigenous community of Poconichim, Chenalhó Chiapas, in the Altos Region. I was traveling from the State of Chiapas to Mexico City in the month of November 2021, leaving San Cristobal de las Casas by bus. At the beginning of the trip there were no problems, but upon arriving in the State of Puebla, at a police checkpoint, agents of the National Institute of Migration got on the bus and approached me and questioned me about where I was going and I did not answer them because I do not speak Spanish, only my native language. Then they asked me to get off the bus and ordered the driver to continue on his way without me, and the bus started and left, and I stayed at the checkpoint. The agents did not ask me any more questions or tell me anything else. I made the decision to return to my town and it was very hard for me".

Highlited Cases: National Institute of Migration (INM)

Case 7

Transcriber: KG

Documenter: KG

Name of Person Abused: R and JL

Incients of Abuse

Violation of Due Process of Law

Age: 33 and 29

Nationality: Venezuelan

Date of Incident: October 18, 2022

Agency: National Institute of Migration (INM)

Type of Alleged Abuse:

Violation of Due Process of Law

Unlawful Prolonged Detention

Deprivation of Basic Needs in Detention

Psychological Abuse

Location of Incident: Between the San Cristobal Highway and Siglo XXI Migratory Station in Tapachula, Chiapas.

"We are Venezuelan migrants, we were caught by the immigration authorities on the San Cristobal Highway and they told us lies. They said they were going to give us a permit to be able to continue traveling, because of our children. But then they took us to a shelter, Siglo XXI, if you can call it that, because it is an inhumane place, practically a prison. They never gave us a permit and, instead, they forced us to sign an exit document in which, according to them, we voluntarily asked to leave through the border with Guatemala. But we are going north, we are not interested in staying in Mexico."

Highlited Cases: National Institute of Migration (INM)

Case 19

Transcriber: KG

Documenter: KG

Name of Person Abused: JLME

Age: 39 years old

Nationality: Ecuador

Date of Incident: October 2022

Agency: Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM)

Type of Alleged Abuse:

Use of Locks in Shelter Cells

Unlawful Prolonged Detention

Psychological and/or Verbal Abuse

Violation of Due Process of Law

Deprivation of Basic Needs

Location of Incident: Siglo XXI Migratory Station, Tapachula, Chiapas.

“My name is JLME, I am from Ecuador, I am 39 years old, I have been here for more than a month, I want to go back to my country, the agents of the National Migration Institute insult me, treat me badly, they have me detained, it is like a kidnapping because I cannot communicate with my family. I am locked in here, at night they put padlocks on the doors where we are resting, as if we were criminals. We didn't commit any crime, they deceived us that they were going to help us and then they locked us up."

Highlited Cases: National Guard

9

Incidents of Abuse

Verbal and/or Psychological Abuse

Case 34

Transcribe: KG

Documenter: KG

Name of Person Abused: Group of Haitian Migrants

Age: Unknown

Nationality: Haitian

Date of Incident: August 31, 2021

Agency: National Guard

Type of Alleged Abuse: Psychological and/or Verbal Abuse

Physical Abuse

Use of Disproportionate Force on a Pregnant Woman

Disproportionate Use of Force on a Minor

Location of Incident: Cabecera Municipal Mapastepec, Chiapas.

"Agents of the National Guard and National Institute of Migration carried out an operation in the municipal capital of Mapastepec. All of us migrants, we were part of the second caravan from Tapachula, we decided to settle in the Central Park to sleep, several villagers provided us with water and food. At 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 20 units with agents of the National Guard and the National Migration Institute arrived at the park and immediately began an operation to detain us. National Guard agents surrounded a woman with her daughter who was crying, she screamed desperately and demanded that the uniformed officers not touch her. I was assaulted by the agents, "they hit me with the stick, they kicked me in my back which is swollen and I am pregnant, they also hit my 2 year old son". Some were detained and others ran near a temple."

Highlited Cases: National Guard

Case 39

Transcriber: KG

8 Incidents of Abuse

Corruption by an Authority

Documenter: KG

Name of Person Abused: Anonymous

Age: Unknown

Nationality: Honduran

Date of Incident: November 3, 2022

Agency: National Guard

Type of Alleged Abuse: Corruption by an Authority

Unlawful Prolonged Detention

Location of Incident: Checkpoint in Tapachula.

"I am from Honduras, I am 27 years old, I arrived in Mexico on October 29. We wanted to leave the other day to cross the border through Tijuana. At the exit of Tapachula at a checkpoint, we were caught by the police who were in green uniforms, National Guard and the others in green uniforms but lighter, they wanted to take two thousand dollars from us, we told them we didn't have any money. The other migrants who were with us of Haitian and Chilean origin and some Cubans gave them money, but we had none.

They brought us back and took us to the Siglo XXI Migration Center, the National Migration Institute gave us a sheet and told us we could stay for 30 days, but my partner, who is not the father of my baby, stayed in jail there, just because we did not give them money, since they did not accept the little money we had and they detained us".

Highlited Cases: National Guard

5

Incidents of Abuse

Violation of Due Process of law

Case 41

Transcribe: KG

Documenter: KG

Name of Person Abused: JL

Age: Unknown

Nationality: Nicaraguan

Date of Incident: November 2022

Agency: National Guard

Type of Alleged Abuse: Violation of Due Process of Law

Unlawful Temporary Detention

Location of Incident: Tapachula Detention Center

"My name is J, I am from Nicaragua, I have been in Tapachula since November. On one occasion I was walking along the highway passing through the Tapachula checkpoint, agents of the National Guard were coming towards me, they grabbed me, they didn't say anything to me, they put me in the vehicle and brought me to the Siglo XXI Migratory Station. They detained me there for two days, and it is the worst. I have never been imprisoned in my country, because I am an honest and hard-working person, but when I arrived here, for the simple fact of being a migrant they treated me like a criminal, it is a prison inside".

Highlited Cases: National Guard

1

Incident of Abuse

Murder

Case 36

Transcriber: KG

Documenter: KG

Name of Abused Person: R

Age: 42 years old

Nationality: Cuban

Date of Incident: October 31, 2021

Agency: National Guard

Type of Alleged Abuse: Murder

Placed in Danger of Death

Endangerment of Life to a Minor Misuse of Firearm

Location of Incident: Community of Progreso, Chiapas in Ejido Echegaray.

"I saw an untimely light that I mistook for the flash that they say you see at the end of the tunnel, when the thin line of life and death crosses, it was the lights of a patrol car, of the National Guard. The vehicle with National Guard license plate number ****, was chasing the three trucks where13 migrants were traveling, among them a baby and a girl. C was shot nine times, they shot him with a hail of bullets. After they killed C they came to plant the gun with which they said we attacked them, but nothing of the sort happened. They fired because they wanted the driver of the truck to stop. After shooting us, they took us to the hospital. They were hitting their heads, banging on the wall and hitting the windows, because they had realized what they had done. They had killed one of us and left another one wounded. I was left wounded by a bullet that hit my left arm and went into my neck".

Highlighted Categories of Abuse: Mexican Secretary of the Navy

2 Abuses Documented

2 Categories of Abuse

2 Identified Abuses

Graph 4: Abuses Documented Involving the Mexican Secretary of the Navy

1. In the midst of widespread systemic violations to the human and civil rights of migrants and members of indigenous communities in transit through Mexico, it is essential that public, clear and transparent investigations be carried out and that they culminate with a process of accountability. It is critical that the Mexican government ensures that all law enforcement agencies and institutions are held accountable for their actions, that abusers are punished, that reparations are made, and that substantial changes are made to Mexico's current migration policies and strategy.

2. Due to the corruption and systematic violation of human and civil rights, which has generated dramatic and regrettable events where migrants have lost their lives, including, but not limited to, the death of 40 migrants in a "shelter" of the National Institute of Migration in Ciudad Juarez, it is urgently recommended:

a. The Immediate Abolition of the National Migration Institute (INM);

b. Legal and criminal prosecution of the Director of INM and other responsible officials.

3. Development of a new Mexican migration policy based on respect for human rights which guarantees that migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and indigenous peoples are treated with dignity and respect, free from abuse and violence. We recommend:

• For the Mexican government to work with non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups and other organizations to provide essential services to migrants;

• That the Mexican Congress legislates the creation of welcoming infrastructure throughout Mexico to ensure that migrants and indigenous peoples have safe and humane passage;

• That the current "migrant stations" often referred to as "shelters" operating in Mexico that have subjected migrants to countless acts of mistreatment, abuse and inhumane conditions be shut down immediately, and that work be done to create welcome and support centers for migrants and provide solidarity;

• That legal permits be granted to migrant families, refugees and individuals seeking asylum to ensure safe, humane transit through Mexico.

4. The official Mexican policy and practice that allows military institutions such as the National Guard and the Secretary of the Navy to enforce immigration and other civilian laws has led to serious allegations of abuses and violations including the use of lethal and disproportionate force against migrants, Native Mexicans and other civilians. These institutions possess neither the proper training, nor the jurisdiction to enforce immigration policy or any other civilian law. Our recommendation:

• That the National Guard be stripped of all authority and responsibility to enforce immigration laws in Mexico, and that the National Guard cease to be in direct contact with migrant families, refugees and native Mexican peoples;

• That the involvement of the National Guard, Navy and Army in civilian law enforcement in Mexico cease completely.

5. In the current immigration policy agreements between Mexico and the United States, it has become clear that Mexico is subjugated to the inhumane and erroneous practices of militarization, detention, and deportation used in the U.S. In light of this we recommend:

• For Mexico to review and terminate all agreements made with the United States on migration policy, especially those that have led to the militarization of migration strategy and the overcrowding of migrants and refugees in detention centers and jails throughout Mexico;

• That Mexico should end the current practices of persecution and detention in which migrants are stripped of their human and civil rights.

6. We urge the Mexican Government, its institutions and police agencies, full and unrestricted respect for the right of human mobility and transit for all Mexicans, especially for native, indigenous and rural communities. We recommend:

• The elimination of police and immigration checkpoints that exist throughout Mexico, and that represent a threat to the right of transit of Mexicans. These checkpoints have encouraged corruption, abuse and the systematic violation of rights.