This June 24, the Franciscan Network for Migrants, through its Advocacy Committee has collaborated with Franciscans International together with 30 other organizations have made a joint statement on the reality of migration in Mexico, Guatemala and the United States. In addition, they have asked the Human Rights Council to demand that these governments comply with their international obligations and refrain from continuing with the detention and deportation of migrants and asylum seekers.
We have witnessed an excessive increase of military and security personnel in migratory verification and control tasks. From June 2019 to December 2020, the military and the Mexican National Guard detained 152.000 migrants on the southern border, including 27.000 children. In Guatemala, the Border Patrol has detained and immediately returned migrants, especially during the “caravans” in September 2020 and January 2021, without allowing them to request international protection. These detentions and returns are made with an excessive, arbitrary, and indiscriminate use of force. For these reasons, we are concern by current negotiations between the United States, Mexico and Guatemala on increasing the militarization of their borders.
Intervention of Ana Victoria López, from the RFM Advocacy Team during the dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.