Mexico Officials Abused 47% of Migrants Awaiting US Asylum
- US program led to attacks on migrants, Human Rights First says
- Migrants robbed, extorted by Mexican officials, report says
A vendor sells merchandise on a beach near the Mexico and US border fence in Tijuana, Mexico on August 7.
Photographer: Fred Ramos/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Nearly half of US-asylum seekers returned to Mexico under the “remain-in-Mexico” program to await a US immigration court hearing said they’d been abused by local officials, according to a Human Rights First report released Thursday.
The US-based human rights organization reviewed 2,688 interviews of asylum seekers conducted between January and August. Most of the migrants were from Latin America, and 47% said they’d been robbed or extorted by Mexican government officials, including immigration agents and security forces.