Mexico human rights panel urges more protection for undocumented migrants News
Mexico human rights panel urges more protection for undocumented migrants

[JURIST] Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) [official website, in Spanish] has urged [press release, in Spanish] the Mexican Senate [official website] to change a law requiring those who file criminal complaints to verify their immigration status. CNDH said Sunday that the country's General Law of Population [PDF, in Spanish], which requires the verification, denies undocumented immigrants fundamental protections in violation of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [texts], and other rights treaties signed by the country. Despite its criticism, the commission praised a July amendment [text, in Spanish] to the law that decriminalized illegal immigration [JURIST report], reducing penalties from as much as six years in prison to monetary fines between $500 and $2,400. AP has more.

Earlier this month, Mexico and Cuba signed [JURIST report] a memorandum of understanding [text, in Spanish] aimed at combating the rising number of Cuban illegal immigrants [JURIST news archive] attempting to reach the US through Mexico. In recent years the Mexican government has taken various steps to stem the tide of migrants coming into the country from other Central American states on their way to the United States, while at the same time seeking to improve the lives of those already in Mexico.