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Introducing her book
"I am my father's daughter"
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| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Tuesday, April 25 2006 |
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| Residents of the Mexican city of Tultitlán are up in arms. So much so that dozens took the law into their own hands, attacking two vehicles occupied by Mexican immigration agents and state police officers, beating several of them, burning one of the cars and flipping the other one over. Their anger stems from the fatal shooting of a Mexican national in the middle of an immigration raid, when he was reportedly mistaken for an undocumented immigrant.
The vigilante unrest aside, the shooting incident brings up a myriad of questions about the way Mexico deals with its own immigration problem, particularly at a time when its government is demanding fair and humane treatment of its undocumented migrants in the United States.
According to witnesses, Roberto Lugo Hernandez, a 22-year-old construction worker, was on his way to work with a friend when they heard shots and saw two official vehicles driving toward them. They ran. Hernandez turned around to look at his aggressors, and he was shot in the stomach. Immigration agents are not supposed to carry weapons, but in this case -- as in many others like it -- armed police were called in as backup.
There is another version being investigated, according to Ermenegildo Castro, director of communication at the National Immigration Institute of Mexico. "There were several captured undocumented immigrants in the vehicles when a group of villagers rammed toward them, demanding they be freed," Castro told me in a telephone interview. "We'll have to wait and see which version is true," he added.
One thing is certain, according to Castro: This was a routine operation, like thousands that have taken place all over the country in the past five years. The flow of undocumented immigrants, mostly from Central America, has increased 70 percent. More than 240,000 have been detained and repatriated. "It is the first time there has been a fatality," Castro assured.
This might very well be the first documented case of a death at the hands of Mexican immigration agents, but accusations abound of abuse, theft, torture, rape and, yes, even murder against undocumented immigrants in Mexico. Villagers in the area of Tultitlán, a magnet for migrants just outside of Mexico City, say these types of operations happen all the time. As soon as they hear shots, some have told local media, they know it's time to round up the undocumented.
Edgar Cortez, spokesman for a human-rights coalition called "All Rights for All People," said they receive dozens of complaints of abuse of migrants by authorities. "In one incident, two Central American migrants were killed by private security agents in a mall when they entered the premises asking for food," he told me. There have been other reports of migrants being robbed and beaten by authorities, who then throw the bodies next to railroad tracks to make it look as if they fell off a train.
On their 1,800-mile journey through Mexico on their way to the U.S. border, Central American migrants are often victims of extortion by law-enforcement agents. The immigration institute says it has ways of dealing with abusers. One hundred eighty-five agents have been relieved of their duties in the past four years. But human-rights activists say that migrants who decide to file complaints have a great disadvantage since they can't hang around and wait for cases to be investigated and processed.
Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal said recently that Mexico is a country with a "clear, defined and generous policy toward migrants." Every six months, the Mexican government offers legalization to undocumented immigrants who have been in the country more than two years, have a job or job offer or have some personal link to a Mexican citizen. However, most recent arrivals who are caught are deported immediately, with no legal recourse.
Mexican immigration authorities are looking into creating a border patrol, similar to the one that operates in the United States, as part of an agreement with the U.S. to increase protection of the borders with better-trained agents. As of now, all they have is "Grupo Beta," an elite group with only 150 members, who are supposed to protect the human rights of immigrants coming into the country and Mexican nationals who are leaving.
Just like the U.S., the Mexican government has a right to protect its borders and its sovereignty. But to have the moral authority to demand humane treatment of immigrants north of its border, it needs to take a good look at it own immigration laws, stop giving abusers impunity and begin to practice what it preaches.
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