Mexican security forces have conducted immigration raids in several areas of Mexico City over the past week, with reported operations taking place in the boroughs of Cuauhtémoc and Miguel Hidalgo.
Alexis, a Mexican citizen, contacted our Migrant Assistance Center to report that on the night of May 4, police officers detained a group of eleven migrants inside a building in the San Rafael neighborhood of the Cuauhtémoc borough. Among those detained was his Cuban wife.
Alerted by his neighbors about the operation, the young man went to the location and learned that his wife had been detained. Members of the Mexican Navy, traffic police, auxiliary police, and an agent from the National Institute of Migration (INM) were present at the scene.
According to Alexis’s testimony, the officers refused to identify themselves and did not present any official warrant authorizing the detention of the migrants. Despite his request for more information, the authorities at the scene offered no answers regarding the reason for the arrest nor did they inform him where his wife would be taken.
After hours of unanswered calls to the immigration offices, he was finally told that his wife had been sent to the “Las Agujas” Immigration Detention Center in the Iztapalapa borough. Alexis contacted a pro-immigrant organization to find out his wife’s whereabouts. They later confirmed that she had been released, but was located in the state of Veracruz.
On social media, users reported that Mexican authorities conducted an immigration raid in front of the “Antara” shopping mall, a popular spot in the Miguel Hidalgo borough. A user named Luis Valenzuela shared a video on social media denouncing the arrest of foreign nationals at the location on April 30.
In a statement, civil society organizations condemned the raids against migrants in the nation’s capital. Furthermore, they reported that the detainees are being transferred to immigration stations, such as Las Agujas, and will later be relocated to other states in the country, which raises human rights concerns.
Source: conexionmigrante
