PBI-Mexico accompanies Saltillo Migrant Shelter as migrant rights crisis deepens

Published by Brent Patterson on

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has tweeted an excerpt from a Conexión Migrante article (in Spanish) that says: “All human beings without exception have rights in the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, whether you are a foreigner or a citizen, the Magna Carta supports you.”

That article is titled Learn about your rights as a migrant in Mexico.

The PBI-Mexico tweet tags @CDMSaltillo.

That’s the Casa Del Migrante de Saltillo.

The Saltillo Migrant Shelter is located in the Mexican state of Coahuila which shares a 512-kilometre border with Texas.

PBI-Mexico has previously noted, “The Saltillo Migrant Shelter offers daily humanitarian assistance — including clothes, medicines, food, rest, and medical and psychological care — to hundreds of migrants crossing Mexico to reach the United States.”

That PBI-Mexico article highlighted, “[The shelter] also defends migrants’ rights through the documentation of cases of kidnapping, extortion, abuses and violations that they suffer during their journey through Mexico. The organization lodges complaints about violations after gathering migrants’ testimonies.”

Those services are much needed.

On July 1 of this year, The Washington Post quoted a Salvadoran official who has worked with Mexico on migration issues saying, “Even though in Mexico, migration is not a crime, migrants are being treated like criminals and feel that way.”

That article adds, “In the weeks since Mexico signed a pact with the United States to stop migration, conditions in detention centers and shelters have deteriorated dramatically, according to diplomats and human rights officials who have visited the facilities.”

“The conditions have cast doubt on Mexico’s ability to fulfill its promise to the Trump administration — to swiftly end migration to the United States — while ensuring the humane treatment of the migrants.”

The Washington Post article also gives this numerical description situation: “Mexico has detained 99,203 migrants this year and deported 71,110 of them, according to its immigration agency. That’s more than were detained in all of 2017.”

Furthermore, in May 2017, Médecins Sans Frontières‎ (MSF) noted, “68.3 percent of the migrant and refugee populations entering Mexico reported being victims of violence during their transit toward the United States [and] nearly one-third of the women surveyed had been sexually abused during their journey.”

That report explained, “MSF patients reported that the perpetrators of violence included members of gangs and other criminal organizations, as well as members of the Mexican security forces responsible for their protection.”

This spring, the Canadian Press reported, “The United Nations is urging Canada to help ease Mexico’s refugee burden by helping resettle some of the most vulnerable of its new arrivals, including women, children and LGBTQ people.”

That article added, “A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen was unable to provide statistics of how many Mexican asylum seekers Canada has received recently.”

Overall, the Saltillo Migrant Shelter provides support to more than 8,000 migrants each year.

Because of this migrant justice work, the staff and volunteers at the shelter have suffered harassment, surveillance and threats.

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has provided accompaniment to the Casa Del Migrante de Saltillo since February 2014.

To help support the writing of more articles like this one, please make a donation to Peace Brigades International-Canada by clicking here.

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