A Mexican Marine orders a group of migrants from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan off a bus at an immigration checkpoint outside the town of Viva Mexico, near Tapachula, in Chiapas state, Mexico, June 21, 2019. Photo Credit: 2019 AP Photo/Oliver de Ros
Society MexicoNo More (Not-So-Random) Legal Status Checks
Years of pressure from human rights groups paid off as Mexico’s immigration agents will no longer be allowed to ask for proof of legal status based on nonobjective criteria, in a historic human rights victory.
The Supreme Court stated that the current immigration law violates the constitutional rights to equality and nondiscrimination as the checks performed are based on ethnicity, skin color, or language and violate the constitutional right to free movement.
Indigenous and Afro-Mexican people have been particularly disproportionately impacted by arbitrary checks. The Supreme Court says these checks violate the right to free movement, where anyone should be able to travel through Mexico without an ID, regardless of nationality. The next step is for Congress to amend the law.
