Migration and Integration in Mexico City

Mexico is considered to be the most important migration corridor in the world. Mexico is a starting point for emigration as thousands of Mexicans and other Latin Americans try to cross the border with the USA in search of work. But Mexico is also one of the few countries in the world that is both a destination and transit route for migrants. Specifically the Northern border with the US and Mexico City account for the biggest number of immigrants in the country. Other states such as Tabasco are also important transit locations. An official census has not been conducted since 2000 by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). According to the census of 2000, the total number of migrants in Mexico was about 500 thousand. This number includes migrants from different origins. There are three main groups of migrants: North American migrants, mainly US citizens that retire in small Mexican villages; European migrants that migrated to Mexico in the early 20th century; and Latin American migrants that include economic migrants, asylum seekers and transit migrants.

This last group is mainly composed by people from three countries of origin: Guatemala, Honduras and Salvador. This group accounts for the largest number of undocumented migrants. According to the report of the Mexican NGO “Sin Fronteras”, “during the period from 2007 to 2009, an average of nearly 100 thousand migrants suffered detention each year.” The detention centers and the procedures of detention have been criticized by NGOs such as Sin Fronteras or the Center for Border Studies and the promotion of human rights (Centro de Estudios Fronterizos y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos) for contradicting the Mexican Constitution and violating Human Rights.

Between 1980 and 1983 (during the last years of the military conflicts), the UNHCR recognized 46 thousand Guatemalan refugees. The vast majority of these refugees initially stayed in Chiapas and eventually resettled in Mexico City, where an existing large community of Guatemalan welcomed them. The high permeability of the Mexican border from Guatemala, along with the economic relationship and the presence of family and networks in Mexico City have driven many other Guatemalan to migrate to Mexico.

Undocumented migrants (Honduran, Guatemalan and Salvadorian) are particularly vulnerable in Mexico City. They are at risk not only of detention , but also of kidnapping and trafficking from mafias and criminal groups (e.g. ransoms kidnapping and trafficking victims ). In 2009, 10 migrants’ shelters began collating reports of abuses in co-ordination with the National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH). As Amnesty International acknowledges, it is difficult to measure the scale of these abuses.

Lack of integration and Human Rights abuses are prevalent in the experience of migrants living in Mexico. Several organizations working in this field in Mexico City include the Mexican Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos AC- CMDPDH), the Jesuit Service for Immigrants(Servicio Jesuita a Immigrantes) and the Center for Human Rights Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez. In addition, several integration practices have been and are being implemented. For instance Cáritas Hermanos Indígenas y Migrantes, a Catholic institution that promotes migrant culture and identity, leadership of migrant women and work in the fields of health, education, human rights, non-discrimination, etc.; the Center for Alternatives for the Social Development (Centro de alternativas para el desarrollo social). There are also numerous shelters, and charity refectory mostly conducted by religious institutions.