Immigration & " National Security": Migrants as Targets of Security Policies

From the Americas Program

Migrants as Targets of Security Policies – CIP Americas: "On Friday, June 23 a group of Central American migrants crossing Mexico by freight train en route to the United States were kidnapped at gunpoint in Medias Aguas, Veracruz. The kidnapping took place the day after the dialogue between members of the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity and President Felipe Calderón about security and spiraling violence under the president’s war on drug trafficking. In Mexico City, delegates of the Caravan demanded an end to the drug war while Calderón defended his strategy against organized crime and narcotrafficking, asserting that, if anything, the militarized strategy should have begun sooner.

Migrant kidnappings reflect the inability and unwillingness of the Mexican government to protect vulnerable groups such as these Central American transmigrants in the context of the violence unleashed under the drug war. They also reveal the costs of a broader “security” policy in both Mexico and the United States that criminalizes migrants rather than defending their lives, security, and rights."