TO THE FEDERAL, STATE, AND MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES OF THE STATE OF PUEBLA
TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MIGRATION
TO THE MEXICAN COMMISSION ON AID TO REFUGEES
TO THE STATE COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
TO THE NATIONAL COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS\
TO ALL THE PERSONS GOOD FAITH
The Franciscan Network on Migration’s Mexico Team, the Jesuit Network with Migrants in Mexico, and the Ignacio Ellacuría Institute of Human Rights, firmly repudiate the facts reported by the Coordinator of the Borders and Migration Seminar and subjectivities of the Alfonso Vélez Pliego Institute of Social Sciences and Humanity (ICSyH) dated December 8, 2021: In compliance with the migration policies of the Mexican State, approximately 500 migrants, mostly Haitians, were transferred from Tapachula on December 8th from Tapachula, Chiapas to the State of Puebla with the promise of issuing them humanitarian visas. However today they remain crowded into the Xonaca Sports Center, in the city of Puebla.
During the visit of the Seminar’s coordinator to these facilities, she verified that within the migrant population there are pregnant women, as well as around 80 boys and girls, some of whom are complaining of dehydration and upper respiratory conditions caused by low temperatures, as well as the failure on the part of the state authorities to provide the minimum conditions that would guarantee the the protection of life, health, and integrity, mainly for the population of children, adolescents and pregnant women.
For their part, the journalistic reports that have collected testimonies about the conditions of the shelter mention that “they have faced a lack of attention … because said space lacks mats, water and blankets to protect themselves from the cold”[1].
It should be noted that the case of the migrant population who is deprived of their liberty at the Xonaca Sports Center is a reflection of the violence that they live migrants within our national territory. Likewise, the lack of safeguards of their lives and personal integrity has claimed the lives of 53 Central American migrants on December 9 on the Chiapa de Corzo highway, despite the prevailing rule of unrestricted respect for migrants’ human rights, as well as the guarantee of these rights by the authorities, in accordance with the provisions of both the first article of the Constitution of the United Mexican States, and the international and jurisprudential standards on human rights.
We demand that the Mexican government at its three levels, and especially the National Migration Institute, the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees, the State Human Rights Commission, the National Human Rights Commission and the various government agencies of the State of Puebla and the City of Puebla:
- Guarantee at all times the immediate attention and special protection to the interests of migrant children found in the Xonaca Sports Center, Puebla.
- Guarantee the human right to health to pregnant migrant women.
- Guarantee humanitarian assistance to all migrants who require food, health and safety, as well as other types of basic care.
- Safeguard the integrity of migrants without resorting to the use of force, taking into account the principles of absolute necessity and proportionality.
- Release those detained in the Sports Center, Xonaca, Puebla, in order to guarantee the human right to protection of life, dignity and health.
- Respect the human rights of each and every migrant regardless of their immigration status.
- Create strategies bythe so that the migrant population and asylum seekers have access to social programs in order to guarantee respect for their human rights (authorities of the State of Puebla.)
- Immediate intervention of the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees.
- Guarantee psychological care and legal guidance on the procedures for the recognition of refugee status and migratory regularization.
Finally, in order to build brotherhood and sisterhood, we make a call to show solidarity and accompany migrants in their journey through Mexico.
Sincerely,
Franciscan Network for Migrants Mexico Team
Jesuit Network with Migrants in Mexico|
Institute of Human Rights Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ.
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[1] https://www.elsoldepuebla.com.mx/local/malos- Artistas-denuncian-migrantes-instalados-en-alberge-de-xonaca-7584984.html