Ciudad Juarez.- The National Guard with military jurisdiction would extend impunity for human rights violations against migrants and would strengthen the participation of military profiles in key positions within the National Migration Institute (INM), denounced the Working Group on Migration Policy (GTPM).
The GTPM is a non-partisan civil society network that since 2010 has been promoting before the Legislative Branch the improvement of regulations on migration and asylum from a human rights, gender, age and intercultural perspective, which, through an open letter to the Congress of the Union and the State Congresses, warned about the impact of the Constitutional Reform on the National Guard on Immigration Issues.
“Based on civil society research, there are at least 400 complaints filed with the National Human Rights Commission regarding acts committed by the National Guard against migrants. However, only one has acknowledged the excessive use of force by the National Guard,” states the document signed by organizations that support people on the move in Ciudad Juárez and other entities in the country.
Use of force
They also denounced that the GN has not submitted reports on 263 reported cases of use of force. And, according to the report ‘Under the Boot’, the militarization of migration policy forces migrants to travel through clandestine routes that make them vulnerable to multiple risks, including deaths, forced disappearances, kidnappings, corruption, racial and ethnic discrimination, human trafficking, abuse of authority, extreme weather conditions, train, maritime and road accidents, among other risks.
“Since the approval of the National Guard Law in 2019, various civil society organizations that specialize in and monitor the different migratory flows in Mexico have warned about the impact of the powers attributed to this corporation in matters of migration control and surveillance,” reads the letter disseminated through its social networks.
The organizations, which include the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), Save the Children Mexico, Alianza Americas, Support for Venezuelan Migrants, AC, Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, Comprehensive Human Rights in Action, Institute for Women in Migration, Network for the
Children’s Rights in Mexico, Sin Fronteras and the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, stressed that the initiative presented in February 2024 by the federal Executive regarding the National Guard would exacerbate various situations such as the reinforcement of xenophobia and discrimination in the country.
“The initiative proposes that the National Guard become the fourth force that makes up the Permanent Armed Forces, joining the Army, the Air Force and the Navy. This would confirm that the National Guard is a military corporation. Because the National Guard has powers of immigration control and verification, a negative narrative would be promoted that would falsely link migrants with criminal activity and threats to national security, contributing to promoting discrimination, xenophobia, hatred and violence against people in contexts of international mobility in Mexico. It would increase impunity in crimes committed against people on the move,” they warned.
Own justice system
The reform extends military jurisdiction to the National Guard because the armed forces have their own justice system, not subject to accountability and transparency.
“Of the total number of INM representative office holders, 14 have military training, which is equivalent to 43.7 percent. Immigration control and verification agents receive training and instruction from the Sedena to develop combat skills. The presence of the GN in immigration detentions involves the use of weapons for the exclusive use of the army via the accompaniment of the GN with assault rifles, which have the function of intimidation and deterrence,” they said.
Violation of human rights
They also indicated that Civil Society Organizations have evidence that the National Guard has engaged in systematic practices of human rights violations against migrants, internally displaced persons, and persons subject to international protection, such as arbitrary and illegal detentions, racial profiling, sexual and gender violence against women, excessive use of force, encapsulation of migrant caravans, participation in cases of kidnapping, and family separations.
“Although Title Seven of the National Guard Law establishes Parliamentary Control in which the federal Executive must present a report to the Senate of the Republic at the beginning of the second ordinary session of each legislative year, this mechanism is not completely democratic or transparent.
To date, most of the information published on the Senate of the Republic’s website is the official letters in which they notify about the sending of the information, but not the report in its entirety,” they claimed.
“We believe that the democratization of Parliamentary Control should: Fall to the Congress of the Union and not only to the Senate of the Republic” and “include a period of receiving reports from civil society and academia that contribute to having a better understanding and impact of the National Guard in security actions, particularly in immigration control tasks,” said the GTPM.
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