Dangerous Territory Mexico Still Not Safe for Refugees July 2017 ON HUMAN RIGHTS, the United States must be a beacon. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Activists fighting for freedom around the globe continue to This report was written and researched by Eleanor Acer and look to us for inspiration and count on us for support. B. Shaw Drake. David Mizner, Meredith Kucherov, and Upholding human rights is not only a moral obligation; it’s a Jennifer Quigley contributed edits to the report. Sarah vital national interest. America is strongest when our policies Graham designed the report. Caroline Wengeler provided and actions match our values. additional desk research and support. We are grateful for the Human Rights First is an independent advocacy and action invaluable support for Mr. Drake’s fellowship from Equal organization that challenges America to live up to its ideals. Justice Works and fellowship sponsors Morgan Stanley and We believe American leadership is essential in the struggle Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Human Rights First also for human rights so we press the U.S. government and thanks the Oak Foundation, the Libra Foundation, the private companies to respect human rights and the rule of Heising-Simons Foundation, the Open Society Policy law. When they don’t, we step in to demand reform, Center, and the Simmons Sisters Fund of The Dallas accountability, and justice. Around the world, we work where Foundation for their support of the organization’s research we can best harness American influence to secure core and advocacy on access to asylum. We are thankful to all freedoms. the practitioners, organizations, and experts that provided information to inform this report. We know that it is not enough to expose and protest injustice, so we create the political environment and policy COVER PHOTO: Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images solutions necessary to ensure consistent respect for human rights. Whether we are protecting refugees, combating torture, or defending persecuted minorities, we focus not on making a point, but on making a difference. For over 30 years, we’ve built bipartisan coalitions and teamed up with frontline activists and lawyers to tackle issues that demand American leadership. Human Rights First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. To maintain our independence, we accept no government funding. © 2017 Human Rights First All Rights Reserved. This report is available online at humanrightsfirst.org Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Kidnappings, Disappearance, Trafficking, and Sexual Assault .......................................... 3 Refoulement and Suppression of Asylum Claims ................................................................ 4 Mexican Asylum System Lacks National Reach and Capacity to Timely Adjudicate Cases .............................................................................. 6 Mexican Asylum System Leaves Many Refugees Unprotected .......................................... 6 Detention Used to Punish Asylum Seekers .......................................................................... 8 Detention and Refoulement of Children, Families, LGBTI Persons and other Vulnerable Populations ......................................................... 9 Gaps in Long Term Integration Initiatives ........................................................................... 10 Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 10 Endnotes ................................................................................................................................ 12 DANGEROUS TERRITORY 1 Introduction press Mexico to “manage” the border without any public affirmation of the importance of Earlier this year the Trump Administration and its international law and treaty commitments that Congressional allies advanced proposals to foist prohibit the return of refugees to persecution. At U.S. refugee protection obligations onto Mexico the June 2017 “Conference on Prosperity and and to block from the United States non-Mexican Security in Central America” in Miami, Mexican refugees and asylum seekers who pass through and U.S. authorities agreed to “explore Mexico. These moves would undermine U.S. enhancements to border security,” again without global leadership and violate American legal mentioning refugee protection.1 commitments even if Mexico had a strong refugee To assess the degree of refugee protection in protection system. They are all the more Mexico and determine how to improve it dangerous because Mexico doesn’t. Amid mass regionally, Human Rights First researchers displacement caused by rampant human rights traveled to Mexico in June 2017. They interviewed abuses and violence in the Northern Triangle of human rights monitors, nonprofit lawyers, U.N. Central America, these proposals would force staff, other aid agency staff, the Mexican thousands of refugees to return to or remain in a Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR), country deeply unsafe for them. Mexico’s asylum adjudication agency, and the President Trump’s January 25th Executive Order National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH). “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement (Their request to meet with the National Institute Improvements” proposed to return some border of Migration (INM), Mexico’s immigration arrivals to “contiguous territories,” such as Mexico, enforcement agency, went unanswered.) Human while they await U.S. immigration court removal Rights First also gathered information from hearings. In the wake of this order and the refugees, attorneys, and aid workers during visits President’s other executive order relating to to Mexico in March and May 2017, and from refugees, some U.S. agents on the southern refugees who, after passing through Mexico, border have told people seeking protection that received assistance through Human Rights First’s the United States is no longer accepting asylum pro bono legal representation program. seekers and, as documented in a May 2017 Human Rights First has concluded that Mexico is Human Rights First report, illegally turned some far from a “safe third country” for refugees. Key away in violation of U.S. law and treaties. findings: In addition, legislative proposals would change n Migrants and refugees face acute risks of U.S. law to require asylum denials to many kidnapping, disappearance, sexual refugees who travel through Mexico, even if they assault, trafficking, and other grave harms lack actual protection there, and allow the in Mexico. Asylum seekers and migrants are Secretary of Homeland Security to declare Mexico targeted for kidnapping and killing in Mexico. a “safe third country” to which the United States Some have been trafficked into forced labor. would return refugees, barring them from seeking They are targeted not only due to their protection through the U.S. asylum process. inherent vulnerabilities as refugees and In April 2017, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis migrants, but also due to their nationality, Videgaray announced that Mexico wouldn’t accept race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender non-Mexicans turned away or removed from the identity. Refugee and migrant women and United States. Yet the United States continues to girls have been trafficked to Mexico’s HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST DANGEROUS TERRITORY 2 southern border, where they are exploited in refugees reside. COMAR is massively under- the bars and nightclubs that cater to the many resourced and lacks the staffing levels police, military, and other security forces in necessary to adjudicate these protection the area. Even asylum seekers and refugees requests in a timely manner, forcing many granted protection in Mexico remain at risk applicants to wait long periods. from persecutors with transnational reach. n Deficiencies, barriers, and flaws in the n Mexican migration officers deport Central Mexican asylum system leave many Americans who have expressed fear of refugees unprotected. There has been return despite the country’s progress in the Mexican asylum system since nonrefoulement and human rights its launch in 2011, including a recent obligations. Refugees who fear persecution alternatives-to-detention initiative and are often deported back to danger. In some increased recognition rates. However, cases, people in need of protection are not substantial deficiencies, barriers, and flaws even aware that they can apply for asylum in persist. Refugees are blocked from protection Mexico. When asylum seekers express a fear under an untenable 30-day filing deadline, of return, INM agents often do not take the denied protection by COMAR officers who steps necessary to allow them to apply for claim that refugees targeted by groups with asylum. In many cases, officers actively national reach can safely relocate within their discourage or pressure Central Americans countries, and discouraged from pursuing held in migration detention from applying for their claims by INM agents at detention asylum regardless of their expressed fears of facilities and at the border. The system also return. In January through October 2016, only suffers from a lack of sufficient nonprofit legal five percent of the 130,000 Central Americans counsel and exceedingly onerous registration apprehended in Mexico applied for asylum.2 requirements that often prevent lawyers from Only 138 of the