Human Rights & Public Liberties

Human Rights & Public Liberties

Newsletter
Published on: 13 Jan, 2021

US/Migrants

Published on: 7 March, 2021

Human Rights Watch published a report, on Friday, that said it “has consistently found that migrants in Mexico are exposed to rape, kidnapping, extortion, assault, and psychological trauma.”
“Tens of thousands of migrant families, including Venezuelans seeking protection from torture, persecution, and arbitrary imprisonment, have been abandoned by the U.S. and Mexican governments to suffer extortion and violence in Mexico,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

In late January, 19 people — 16 of them Guatemalan migrants — were shot dead near Camargo, upriver from Matamoros near the border with Texas. A dozen state police have been arrested in connection with their killings. On Monday, in Nuevo Laredo, another Tamaulipas border city, a Honduran woman and her 10-year-old son were shot and gravely wounded.

The Honduras consul in the area, Juan Carlos Ponce, confirmed the attack and said that Thursday they remained hospitalized, but declined to share details because they were victims of a serious crime. On Thursday, 10 Democratic members of Congress told U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken that the U.S. government must help to push for greater protections for migrants and asylum seekers waiting in Mexico.