The UN disapproves of the immigration policy of Mexico and the United States | International

The Organization of the United Nations (UN) has given this Wednesday a setback to the immigration policy of Mexico and the United States. Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has criticized on Monday the tightening of the measures imposed by both governments to contain the flow of immigrants from Central America. "They are putting migrants at a growing risk of human rights violations and abuses," said the Chilean president, who has described the shift in regional migration management as a "setback." Bachelet's statements arrive on the eve of the meeting that the Mexican Foreign Ministry will hold with its US counterparts to discuss the immigration agreement last June, in which the Donald Trump government reversed the threat of imposing tariffs on Mexican imports if the country showed in 90 days that it could stop irregular immigration.

Bachelet has been particularly critical of the United States and has focused on family separation and the vulnerability of children forced to leave their countries. "In a nation built on the basis of receiving migrants, recent measures have reduced their protection, which worries me deeply, especially the continued separation of migrant children from their parents," said Bachelet, in his opening address to the Human Rights Council from the ONU. "Nothing can justify inflicting such a deep trauma on any child."

The high commissioner also questioned the legality of the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), the unilateral policy of the United States that states that asylum seekers must wait in Mexico for a US Court to decide if their petition is appropriate. . "The agreements for give back people to these or other countries cannot be considered legal if international human rights and refugee law are not respected, "Bachelet said. The protocol, informally known as" Stay in Mexico, "has been harshly challenged by the capacity of the Latin American country to offer safe and dignified conditions for applicants and has been designated by lawyers and border activists as part of a deterrent strategy of Washington against the growing number of applications from Central America.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced last Friday that detentions on the southern border of the United States had fallen 56% between May and August, according to preliminary data from the US Customs and Border Protection Office. The four-month period is part of the beginning of the threats Trump had launched to Mexico until the latest available data. This is Mexico's main letter for the bilateral meeting in Washington to banish the ghosts of a tariff war with its main trading partner, where it sends three quarters of its exports and where it receives 94% of its remittances.

The Mexican Foreign Ministry defends that its management of Trump's attacks has been successful and justifies the tightening of its immigration policy as an adjustment attached to its own laws and national interest. Ebrard sent the message of efficient containment and shared responsibilities towards the United States, but insisted on the attachment to human rights and the few complaints that have been made in this regard to counteract criticism inside the country.

At the same time, Mexico still promotes the Comprehensive Development Plan for Central America, a kind of Marshall plan to attack the structural causes of migration and promote employment and investment in the Central American isthmus. The plan has been endorsed by several governments and international organizations – including Cepal, the United Nations arm for economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean – but has had trouble guaranteeing funds that make it a reality on the ground. . The Mexican requirement is that the White House ratify its commitment to support it and, above all, materialize it in concrete investments.

"The policies of zero tolerance they will not cut down on the factors that push people to leave their country, "Bachelet emphasized. The statements of the UN official from Geneva set the tone of criticism regarding the new migration pact between Mexico and the United States, but they realize what is behind: hundreds of thousands of people in transit so far this year, a system of collapse, an increasingly narrow door for the so-called "American dream" and the capacity of Mexico and other countries of The region offers alternatives to the 800,000 who will leave their homes and try to cross from the US nation this year.