Mexico is voicing concern over ICE operations in the United States.
In a statement released late night Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was deeply concerned about the recent operations carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in various U.S. cities, particularly in Los Angeles, which have resulted in the arrest of migrants, including Mexican nationals.
The government of Mexico made “a respectful but firm call to U.S. authorities so that all immigration procedures are carried out with due process, within a framework of respect for human dignity and the rule of law.”
It also said the government will use diplomatic and legal channels to express its dissatisfaction with practices that criminalize migration and put the safety and well-being of Mexican communities in the U.S. at risk.
The statement came as grassroots community defence initiatives in Los Angeles converted into larger mobilizations over the past week and as scenes of brutal state repression by Los Angeles police reached audiences worldwide.
The president of the Senate of Mexico, Gerardo Fernández Noroña, also published a statement on Sunday, categorically rejecting human rights violations in California under the pretext of detaining migrants.
“..the United States government has unleashed raids that violate the dignity of migrants and their most fundamental human rights. Without any arrest warrant or court order to support the raids, hundreds of migrants have been detained and imprisoned without any legal process. This has generated a response from Californian society in particular, rejecting ICE personnel, who carry out operations that appear more like military interventions.”
The statement indicated that people are “suffering unjustified repression”, particularly with the U.S. federal government’s deployment of the National Guard to California to confront popular support for migrants.
Noroña called on the U.S. government “to avoid all acts of repression and rectify its unjust and arbitrary policy against millions of migrants who for decades have paid their taxes and contribute their efforts to the wealth of the United States.”
Noroña also took up the issue during Monday’s Senate press conference, referring to a map showing the geography of Mexico in 1830, when a great portion of what is now considered the United States was part of Mexico.
“We were dispossessed of this land. We settled there before the nation now known as the United States. The Treaties of Guadalupe Hidalgo established rights for the people settled in those territories that were not respected. With this geography, how can the United States government talk about liberating Los Angeles and California? Liberate them from whom? The Mexicans who are settled there are settled in what has been their homeland. We have been dispossessed.”
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