PBI-Mexico expresses concern about continued harassment of the Saltillo Migrant Shelter

On July 25, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted (in Spanish) on Twitter, “We express our concern about the recent acts of harassment [the Saltillo Migrant Shelter] has suffered.”

On July 24, AJ+ Espanol tweeted (in Spanish), “’What they are doing is in violation of the law!’ This said the director of the @CDMSaltillo to the military who tried to do – for the second time this month – an immigration review at the migrant shelter in Saltillo, Mexico.”

The Federal Police had also tried to do an immigration check at the Shelter on July 20. You can read more about that in this Peace Brigades International-Canada article, PBI-Mexico expresses concern over federal police check at Saltillo Migrant Shelter.

The AJ+ Espanol tweet included this 48-second video of Alberto Xicotencátl Carrasco, the director of the Shelter, turning away the military police and the Saltillo police.

In the video, he says:

“Article 76 of the Migration Law: ‘No authority can make immigration checks five kilometers from the shelters.’ Article 76 of the Migration Law. The Migrant House is protected by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. What they are doing is in violation of the law. The military is violating the law and breaking an international order. The Inter-American Commission has precautionary measures! Respect the law!”

The harassment of the Saltillo Migrant Shelter is happening in the context of the further militarization of the US-Mexico border.

On June 24, the head of the Mexican army announced that Mexico had deployed almost 15,000 soldiers and members of its National Guard in the north of the country to stem the flow of migration into the United States.

Reuters has reported, “Mexico is trying to curb a surge of migrants from third countries crossing its territory in order to reach the United States, under the threat of tariffs on its exports by U.S. President Donald Trump…”

PBI-Mexico has 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.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Saltillo Migrant Shelter, which is located near the Mexico-Texas border, since February 2014.

For more on the work of the Shelter, please see this 4-minute video by PBI-Mexico.

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