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Walls, Abuses, and Deaths at the Borders
March 11, 2008. 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.
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.
| Grassroots Journalism www.barriozona.com |
Rights Groups in Washington, D.C. Denounce the Human Rights Violations of Undocumented Migrants
Crossing the Borders in the United States and in Mexico
Crossing the Borders in the United States and in Mexico
