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WASHINGTON – During a visit to Mexico from March 9-11, a delegation of women migrant leaders will meet with activists who work on human rights issues and who protect people who migrate, asylum seekers, refugees, and people who have been deported.
The delegation will explore how the lack of security, the economic impact of COVID-19, climate change, and other factors like violence continue to prompt internal displacement and the migration of Mexican nationals to the United States. Delegation leaders said that Mexico is confronting various challenges, including its disappearance crisis, the defense of workers’ rights, and internal displacement, meaning it is imperative for civil society groups in both the U.S. and Mexico to work together on a transnational agenda.
“As activists who defend migrant communities in the U.S. and who know firsthand what it means to migrate, we want to understand better the challenges that face the Mexican population and force many of them to seek a safe and dignified life in the U.S.,” said Carolina Ortiz of COPAL, a migrants rights advocacy group based in Minnesota. “This is a critical moment for mutual collaboration across borders, and that includes those who defend migrant rights in the U.S. connecting with our counterparts in Mexico.”
Delegation leaders emphasized the importance of the U.S. resuming the processing of asylum seekers at its southern border instead of offloading the responsibility to Mexico, a country that is facing immense challenges in offering adequate care and protection to people who migrate.
“Asylum seekers and migrants have been left in a legal limbo along the U.S.-Mexico border and in parts of southern Mexico, with no option to apply for protection and no options for accessing justice. This situation is unsustainable,” said Rita Robles, coordinator for Mexico at Alianza Americas, a coalition of 55 migrant organizations across 18 U.S. states.
“Both the Mexican and the U.S. governments need to work in close collaboration in order to respond to migration in a way that is more fair and humane, respecting the rights of people who migrate,” said Claudia Lucero, an organizer at the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) in Chicago, Illinois. “That includes adopting economic and social policies that allow all people in Mexico and Central America to live in dignity, without having to be forced to migrate to have a chance at living in safety and prosperity.”
The delegation of U.S. migrant leaders visiting Mexico include:
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Alianza Americas is the premier transnational advocacy network of Latin American migrant-led organizations working in the United States, across the Americas, and globally to create an inclusive, equitable and sustainable way of life for communities across North, Central and South America.
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