Civil society organizations have reported that since the end of April they have documented “migration control” operations by the National Migration Institute (INM) in some areas of Mexico City, where migrants, including Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, and Hondurans, have been detained, some with pending cases before the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar).
For this reason, Venezuelan Migrant Support, the Institute for Women in Migration, the Alaíde Foppa Legal Clinic of the Ibero-American University, among others, filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) requesting an investigation and the issuance of precautionary measures.
In the document, they reported that on May 1st, immigration agents carried out an operation against delivery drivers working for digital platforms in the vicinity of the Miyana shopping center in Polanco.
They stated that “several foreign nationals were detained, without regard for the fact that some had applications for refugee status, and were taken to the Las Agujas Immigration Station in Iztapalapa.” They also documented that at approximately 12:30 a.m., they were taken to Villahermosa, Tabasco, and Tapachula, Chiapas.
One of the testimonies added to the complaint filed with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) is that of Julio (a pseudonym to protect his identity), who recounted that during an operation carried out around 3:00 p.m. in Plaza Miyana, agents from the National Migration Institute (INM) asked him for his documents. He indicated that although he presented his registration certificate from the Mexico City government’s Registry of Guests and Returning Migrants, he was detained. “They took my phones and put me in the van,” he said.
He recounted that at the immigration station, they took his personal information, fingerprints, and photographs, and made him sign “documents they wouldn’t even let you read.” After midnight, he added, “they took us on a bus to Villahermosa; there were about 20 of us, and we arrived at another immigration detention center. They took us off the bus, and in less than 10 minutes, we were back on the street.”
In their complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the organizations also detailed that on May 1st, other operations were reported, one on Avenida Revolución, where “the actions consisted of immigration checks in public places targeting foreign nationals, without any individualized criteria.”
Likewise, between May 2nd and 3rd, they documented similar actions in the Tepito and La Merced areas, consisting of “searches in public places and the interception of people based on their physical appearance.” They also indicated that on May 4th, there were alleged “inspections” in houses and tenements in the Buenavista neighborhood.
Rodrigo Yedra, an advocate who assists some of the affected migrants, and July Rodríguez, from Venezuelan Migrant Support, pointed out that while the National Migration Institute (INM) has denied carrying out these types of raids and justified its actions as being in response to a request for cooperation from the competent authorities of Mexico City with the intention of preventing criminal activity, the migrants’ complaints tell a different story.
Source: jornada
