Mexico needs a “just migration policy” which guarantees “the free and orderly, regulated and responsible transit of people” and watches over the legitimate interests of Mexicans, according to statement from the country’s Catholic bishops sent to Agenzia Fides.
The Catholic news agency reports that the statement, which was issued following an agreement between the US and Mexico on tariffs and migration policy last Friday, also said the proposed deployment of 6,000 National Guardsmen on the country’s southern border – a promise made by Mexico as part of the deal with the US – was not a solution that addressed the “true causes” behind the migration of thousands of Central American people into Mexico with many attempting to cross the country to reach the US.
“If we, as Mexicans, have rejected the construction of a wall, we cannot turn ourselves into that wall,” the statement said.
It added that Mexico was not “isolated”, but a “brother nation that must build up other Central American countries through a strategy that take into account a regional common good.”
“Our migrant brothers must never be used as currency. No negotiation should be placed above what the Church and civil society have defended for years; that is, not labeling migrants as criminals, and the human rights of those who fight for their dignity with significant risks to their own security”.
Noting the “serious risks” migrants deported to Mexico from the US face in Mexican cities while awaiting processing of their asylum applications, the statement said that “[a]s members of the human family we cannot be indifferent to the pain that many of them live and that requires our humanitarian help and respect without restriction of their human rights”.
“The Catholic Church in Mexico is convinced that a just migration policy is needed that, on the one hand, guarantees a free and orderly, regulated and responsible transit of people; and on the other hand watches over the legitimate interests of the members of our nation. Similarly, we are convinced that Mexicans must be united in facing this and other global challenges”.
The bishops called on the governments of the US and Mexico to “always privilege dialogue and transparent negotiation in bilateral relations, without falling into the easy temptation of blackmail or threats”.
“The good of each country is built by looking after the good of the whole region,” the statement said. “There is not future other than that of walking together as brothers and sisters.”
Thousands of migrants have arrived in Mexico since last October, largely from the Central American nations of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. About 11,000 asylum seekers are now waiting in Mexico while their claims are processed in the US, a process which can take months.
