Latin America – Migration crisis: Jesuit networks in Mexico and Central America speak out
Hundreds of thousands of forced migrants from Central America, Mexico itself, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and other American and extra-continental countries live in Mexico a constant violation of their rights, protection gaps and public and private behaviours that stigmatise and criminalise them. This situation is added to the crisis that forced them to leave their community of origin and to the increasingly precarious and dangerous conditions of transit.
These situations are a constant and growing trend on the continent and sometimes, as in recent weeks in Mexico, they reach extremes that scandalise us.
Several Jesuit organisations in the region (Jesuit University System, the Social Sector of the Mexican Province, the Jesuit Network with Migrants Mexico and the Jesuit Network with Migrants CANA) have issued a communiqué in which they wish to focus their attention on some of the most pressing expressions of this situation:
- To recall the causes and causes of these forced migrations, the structural violence that expels and makes the right to migrate not an option but an escape.
- Denounce the institutional response that is alien to the needs of protection and focused on strategies of rejection, either by containment, detention or deportation.
- Demand, therefore, a response that meets the humanitarian and protection needs of forced migrant groups and show concern for the abandonment of the asylum system in Mexico and for the absence and degradation of other regularisation alternatives.
- Call on civil society to be a welcoming community, to show solidarity and empathy in concrete expressions of hospitality and to demand respect for the human rights of forced migrants.
The communiqué appeals to the Culture of Hospitality as a proposal and path towards Reconciliation and Justice, towards understanding ourselves as an ever greater We as Pope Francis proposes to us on the occasion of the 107th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
We share the communiqué:
Statement from the Jesuit
University Network, the Social Sector of the Mexican Province of the Society of
Jesus, the Jesuit Network with Migrants-Mexico and the Jesuit Network with
Migrants Central America-North America CANA, on the current migration crisis in
Mexico.
Mexico,
4 October 2021
- The Jesuit University System SUJ, the Social Sector of the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Network with Migrants-Mexico and the Jesuit Network with Migrants CANA, urge the Mexican State, in particular the federal government, to respect and guarantee the human rights and dignity of forced migrants in Mexico.
- We call on the SUJ university community and civil society in general to respond to the historic and aggravated regional migration crisis with hospitality, solidarity and welcome towards forced migrants in our country.
From the Jesuit University System, the Social Sector of the Mexican
Province of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Network with Migrants-Mexico and
the Jesuit Network with Migrants CANA, we express our concern for the situation
of hundreds of thousands of forced migrants in Mexico. In recent weeks we have
seen constant human rights violations, such as: expulsions of people in need of
international protection to Guatemala; violent containment operations against
families, pregnant women, children and adolescents in Chiapas; prolonged
immigration detentions, with failures in due process during migration
operations, in undignified, unhealthy conditions, under a torturing environment
and constant mistreatment. All of these are the result of the deepening of
externalisation, "securitisation" (prioritising national security),
militarisation of borders and movement routes, and migration policies contrary
to the protection of rights.
We are concerned that the institutional responses to the protection needs
of migrants arriving in our country are increasingly focused on detention,
detention and deportation. In this way, access to fundamental rights such as
the right to life, liberty, freedom of movement, due process, asylum,
protection of children and family life, housing, health, food, work and
education, which are enshrined in our Constitution and in the international
human rights framework, are not guaranteed.
The growing presence of people of Haitian origin in our country, as well
as from different parts of the region and the world, is due to the conditions
of poverty, inequality, violence and natural disasters that were aggravated by
the Covid-19 pandemic and have led to the forced migration of thousands of
people in search of a dignified life. Against this backdrop, the document
"Position of the Society of Jesus in Mexico and Central America in the
face of Forced Migration" was published, in which proposals are presented
to address the structural causes of forced migration in the region. This
document represents a very valuable and fundamental effort that should be taken
up by the various sectors of society to counteract the impact of inequality in
the world, as well as the high vulnerability of people in forced internal and
international mobility.
In addition to recognising how fundamental it is to work on the
structural causes that give rise to migration, we highlight the importance of
addressing the needs of people who are already in the process of forced
mobility, as we find ourselves in a scenario in which Mexico is increasingly
becoming a country of forced destination. Faced with this reality, it is
essential to strengthen the asylum system in Mexico, streamline the processes
of requesting international protection and expand access to migration regularisation,
all with the aim of responding to the current context of worsening crisis of
several decades, and reduce the risks and vulnerabilities faced by migrants,
both from Mexico and from other countries, as indicated in the international
framework for the protection of human rights.
We emphasise that, in this context, people continue to reorganise and
rearticulate themselves in search of the right to international protection and
a dignified life. As universities of the Society of Jesus, the Social Sector of
the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Network with
Migrants-Mexico and the Jesuit Network with Migrants CANA, we are challenged to
Listen and Walk with forced migrants and promote a Culture of Hospitality in
the search for Justice and Reconciliation for all people who share the planet.
We are committed to continue developing actions from the university and
social works to generate conditions that promote respect for the human rights
of migrants and their families, and thus respond to the message of Pope Francis
to Welcome, Protect, Promote and Integrate, to seek an "ever greater
We," as he pointed out in the celebration of the 107th World Day of
Migrants and Refugees on Sunday 26 September. Finally, we call on the university
community and civil society in general to respond to the worsening migration
crisis through actions of hospitality, solidarity and welcome, which allow us
to discover the similarities in the longings, desires and needs that bring us
closer to the migrants who arrive in our territory.
Jesuit University Network
Social Sector of the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus
Jesuit Network with Migrants Mexico and Jesuit Network with Migrants CANA
DOWNLOAD STATEMENT IN PDF (Available only in Spanish)
Source: CPAL
Related Posts:
On Wednesday, April 10, the European Parliament voted on the European Pact on Asylum and Migration. JRS Europe directors jointly opposed the pact and urged European institutions to reject it: "We cannot support a system that will allow the systematic detention of thousands of people, including children, at the EU external borders."
The Cartagena Declaration, adopted in 1984, emerged in response to the growing displacement crises in Latin America. Its importance lies in its expanded approach to defining a refugee, recognising the causes of displacement beyond armed conflict events. Despite progress in these 40 years, implementation challenges of the recognition criteria and the commitments made in the adopted plans persist.
After almost six months of war in Gaza, the Society of Jesus released a statement calling for peace. The Jesuits avow to follow Pope Francis's voice, who has repeatedly warned that war is a defeat and called for negotiations—and the beginning of a process that will bring freedom, liberty, and justice for all in the Middle East--the only road to true peace.
This story narrates the spontaneous act of hospitality leading to a community effort to support a migrant family's journey. It illustrates the transformative power of personal compassion amidst global migration challenges.
The Migrants and Refugees Network in Asia Pacific gathered to address migrant and refugee challenges, guided by collaboration, prayer, and Ignatian spirituality principles. Discussions ranged from updates on regional migrant situations to Taiwan's progressive immigrant response, culminating in the finalization of a five-year action plan highlighting the network's dual mission of support for both migrants and its members.
This first publication of 2024 provides an overview of the latest data, changes and trends in the context of most of the region's countries (Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and Canada).
