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60. In 2006, INM opened its largest detention centre in Tapachula, Chiapas, which
holds 960 migrants. The 48 centres are located in 23 of Mexico’s 32 states and the
Federal District. They are divided into three categories according to space, types of facilities, and
administrative capacity. For example, three large detention centres are authorized to carry out
administrative procedures and have separate spaces for men, women and families, and medical
facilities. These are located in Saltillo, Coahuila, near the northern border; Mexico City; and
Tapachula. In addition to these, there are two other centres in Acayucan, Veracruz state, and
Juhro, Chihuahua state. INM manages the centres with security from local or federal police
forces, and sometimes employs private security companies, raising the question of whether
human rights standards are being enforced.
61. The executive order on detention facilities of 26 November 2001 provides for separating
men and women and for setting aside areas for families, psychiatric patients and carriers of
infectious diseases. The guards in the women’s sleeping quarters must be women. In addition,
the executive order states that detained individuals must be assigned a dormitory and given a mat
and articles for personal hygiene. Detainees also have the right to receive food three times a day.
62. But despite the executive order, the Special Rapporteur notes recurring problems with
Mexico’s detention centres. Cases of cruel and degrading treatment and overcrowding have been
reported, and lack of medical care and failure to notify consulates are commonplace. There are
also common complaints about lack of hygiene, poor access to or poor quality food, and poor
treatment by authorities. Concerns specific to women migrants relate to the practice that some
security guards and attending physicians are men, which has occasionally resulted in accusations
of sexual harassment and abuse. In addition, women have specific medical problems that they
may want to disclose only to female medical personnel.
63. Among the three detention centres that the Special Rapporteur visited, in Mexico City,
Tapachula and Tijuana, there were a very small number of migrants detained (between 5 and 50,
depending on the holding centre), meaning the majority of supposed irregular migrants in the
country were unaccounted for. While noting the Government of Mexico’s policy of rapid
repatriation, questions about the criminalization of irregular migration remain a concern. Reports
suggest that there is an unknown number of migrants in prison, including in federal, state and
municipal prisons, as well as unofficial or clandestine prisons, but requests by the Special
Rapporteur for additional data and statistics on the foreign-born population in incarceration were
not answered with sufficient information.
64. Reports from civil society indicate that detained migrants in many cases are not adequately
informed of their rights, lack access to a lawyer, that no interpretation is offered in the case of
non-Spanish-speaking migrants and that the registration of migrants is not systematic. Some
migrants are detained for a short period of time by the authorities, “voluntarily repatriated” (but
in many cases it is involuntary) and there is no record of some migrants’ arrival and departure.
Some non-governmental organizations explained that they do not have access to detained
migrants in order to assist them and if so, in the cases where detainees do have access to a
lawyer, they are allowed only 30 minutes (at most) to speak, which is insufficient to exchange
proper information about the details of the case and the rights afforded to the migrant.