SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM) has a checkpoint at the Tijuana airport to provide direction and information for migrants, but Enrique Lucero, director of Tijuana’s Migrant Affairs Office, says the agents assigned to the area are doing anything but helping.
He says the agents are using the checkpoint as a way to identify and then demand money from migrants.
“This filter has been in operation for years, and it’s always been questioned as to why it’s there since the migrants have already cleared customs in Mexico,” Lucero said. “They should respect the migrants’ human rights and provide them with information instead of trying to extort money from them.”
Lucero added migrants are often threatened especially those who express intentions of crossing unlawfully into the United States.
He says he has made his concerns known to directors within INM.
“We can’t make them feel like they are delinquents, and it’s important to note they are victims, we can’t lie to them and then victimize them even more,” Lucero said.
Lucero said signs detailing migrant rights in Mexico are being posted inside terminals at Tijuana’s airport, adding that information related to the CBP One app will also be made widely available.
The app provides asylum-seekers with appointments so they can gain legal access to the U.S. and begin their asylum cases instead of leaning on smugglers to get them across the border.
“This information will be posted not only here but at foreign airports where the migrants are coming from,” said Lucero. “We need to do all of this to protect and prevent migrants from unlawfully crossing into the U.S. and becoming victims.”
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