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Walls, Abuses, and Deaths at the Borders
March 11, 2008
Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues in Phoenix, Arizona
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At a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
the International Federation for Human rights (FIDH) will submit to
the Mexican government and the Commission’s experts, evidence of
the on-going human rights violations perpetrated against
undocumented migrants on their way to the United States. FIDH will
base its testimony on the alarming findings contained in its
investigative report:
“United States - Mexico: Walls, Abuses, and Deaths at the Borders.”
From March 12th until March 14th, FIDH representatives will present
their fact-finding mission’s conclusions and recommendations to U.S.
officials from various offices of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), to U.S. House and Senate Representatives, and to migrants
rights groups.
FIDH’s report “Walls, Abuses, and Deaths at the Borders,” is the
result of an investigation conducted through 2007 from the southern
borders of Mexico to the U.S. states of Arizona and Texas,
investigating the rights of undocumented Central American and
Mexican migrants traveling to the United States. The report
denounces the human rights violations perpetrated against migrants
by both the Mexican and the U.S. authorities, in complete impunity. It
criticizes both States for enforcing incoherent national migration
policies which openly disregard their human rights obligations under
national and international law, including the right to life.
As explained by a 28 year-old Central American migrant met by FIDH
delegation in Mexico: “There are all kinds of violations of human rights,
rapes of women – but everything remains unpunished. There is
discrimination against us in the administration of justice. Migrants are
considered nothing.” In Mexico, while migrants are crossing the
country they are frequently subjected, by the Mexican police and by
migrant smugglers, to extortion, threat, beating, sexual harassment,
rape, and kidnapping – this in complete impunity and in a corrupted
context. In the United States, the government’s policy of “prevention
through deterrence,” has resulted in the construction of miles of
walls and the heavy militarization of the border, and has been
forcing thousands of migrants to travel by feet through the most
dangerous and inhospitable deserts of the country, causing
hundreds of women, children, and men to die every year, often from
dehydration or hypothermia. The deterrence policy deliberately
intends – in vain – to dissuade other migrants from crossing the
border. In addition, Border Patrol agents utilize verbal harassment,
degradation, humiliation, and intimidation along with
disproportionate use of deadly force against border crossers, which,
in parallel, has led to significant racial profiling in border communities.
In the United States as well as in Mexico, the quasi-systematic
detention of migrants is the norm, often in abusive conditions,
especially in terms of health care. In Mexico, a current reform
proposal would expand the legal categories of indefinite detention of
undocumented migrants. In deportation proceedings, and in both
countries, due process is shockingly missing: the overwhelming
majority of migrants have no legal representation at all, and little or
no legal protections such as judicial review. Vulnerable groups, such
as children, mothers, disabled persons, and refugees at risk if sent
back to their country of origin, are the first victims of such policies.
A deep immigration legislation reform respectful of the human rights
of all migrants is a must in Mexico and in the United States. Such
reforms should provide for the decriminalization of migrants in
irregular administrative situations; end the detention of migrants in
prison-like facilities; establish independent mechanisms to prosecute
government agents responsible of acts of corruption, abuses, and
killings; and restore due process and the right to legal
representation in all deportation proceedings.
In the year 2008, marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, it is time that government policy-
makers stop thinking of migration through the simplifying prism of
fear and security, but rather focus on the reasons for migration, on
cooperation, and on human rights.
the International Federation for Human rights (FIDH) will submit to
the Mexican government and the Commission’s experts, evidence of
the on-going human rights violations perpetrated against
undocumented migrants on their way to the United States. FIDH will
base its testimony on the alarming findings contained in its
investigative report:
“United States - Mexico: Walls, Abuses, and Deaths at the Borders.”
From March 12th until March 14th, FIDH representatives will present
their fact-finding mission’s conclusions and recommendations to U.S.
officials from various offices of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), to U.S. House and Senate Representatives, and to migrants
rights groups.
FIDH’s report “Walls, Abuses, and Deaths at the Borders,” is the
result of an investigation conducted through 2007 from the southern
borders of Mexico to the U.S. states of Arizona and Texas,
investigating the rights of undocumented Central American and
Mexican migrants traveling to the United States. The report
denounces the human rights violations perpetrated against migrants
by both the Mexican and the U.S. authorities, in complete impunity. It
criticizes both States for enforcing incoherent national migration
policies which openly disregard their human rights obligations under
national and international law, including the right to life.
As explained by a 28 year-old Central American migrant met by FIDH
delegation in Mexico: “There are all kinds of violations of human rights,
rapes of women – but everything remains unpunished. There is
discrimination against us in the administration of justice. Migrants are
considered nothing.” In Mexico, while migrants are crossing the
country they are frequently subjected, by the Mexican police and by
migrant smugglers, to extortion, threat, beating, sexual harassment,
rape, and kidnapping – this in complete impunity and in a corrupted
context. In the United States, the government’s policy of “prevention
through deterrence,” has resulted in the construction of miles of
walls and the heavy militarization of the border, and has been
forcing thousands of migrants to travel by feet through the most
dangerous and inhospitable deserts of the country, causing
hundreds of women, children, and men to die every year, often from
dehydration or hypothermia. The deterrence policy deliberately
intends – in vain – to dissuade other migrants from crossing the
border. In addition, Border Patrol agents utilize verbal harassment,
degradation, humiliation, and intimidation along with
disproportionate use of deadly force against border crossers, which,
in parallel, has led to significant racial profiling in border communities.
In the United States as well as in Mexico, the quasi-systematic
detention of migrants is the norm, often in abusive conditions,
especially in terms of health care. In Mexico, a current reform
proposal would expand the legal categories of indefinite detention of
undocumented migrants. In deportation proceedings, and in both
countries, due process is shockingly missing: the overwhelming
majority of migrants have no legal representation at all, and little or
no legal protections such as judicial review. Vulnerable groups, such
as children, mothers, disabled persons, and refugees at risk if sent
back to their country of origin, are the first victims of such policies.
A deep immigration legislation reform respectful of the human rights
of all migrants is a must in Mexico and in the United States. Such
reforms should provide for the decriminalization of migrants in
irregular administrative situations; end the detention of migrants in
prison-like facilities; establish independent mechanisms to prosecute
government agents responsible of acts of corruption, abuses, and
killings; and restore due process and the right to legal
representation in all deportation proceedings.
In the year 2008, marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, it is time that government policy-
makers stop thinking of migration through the simplifying prism of
fear and security, but rather focus on the reasons for migration, on
cooperation, and on human rights.
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Three migrants wait outside the
Mexican Customs building in Nogales,
Sonora, Mexico, as they attempt to
cross into the United States.
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
Mexican Customs building in Nogales,
Sonora, Mexico, as they attempt to
cross into the United States.
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
