Mexican Immigration Authorities Impede Humanitarian Aid to Central American Migrants

The Americas Program

December 3, 2014

Adrián Rodríguez Garcia and Wilson Castro, who provided food and other aid to migrants in Mexico State were shot to death in their pick-up truck on Nov. 23. The news came as a devastating blow to the human rights community in Mexico. A criminal gang that Rodríguez and Castro had denounced for its assaults on migrants in the town of Tequixquiac, north of Mexico City, fired a round of bullets into the truck, parked outside the home of Rodríguez’s parents. Rodríguez died instantly, and Castro died in the hospital in the early hours of the 24th.

These violent deaths call attention to the risks human rights defenders face in Mexico, especially those who work with Central American migrants. Many of these risks come from Immigration agents themselves. Human rights organizations report that Mexican authorities routinely impede their work. Migrant rights defenders have become more vocal in demanding fair and legal treatment of migrants in Mexico, yet in recent months they have suffered physical attacks, law suits and arbitrarily been prevented from providing legal aid to migrants.

Full article available here.