Disappearances of Migrants as a Result of United States’ and Mexico’s Migration Policies

A joint submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants

The U.S. and Mexican governments’ reliance on deterrence and externalization policies that violate human rights, and collaboration by Mexican state actors with non-state criminals, contribute significantly to migrant disappearances. Advocates and academics in the United States have documented how U.S. policies result in enforced disappearance of migrants while in immigration custody, interdicted at sea and detained in Guantánamo, and while blocked in or returned to Mexico. Advocates have submitted information to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) regarding short-term enforced disappearances in these contexts. In response to multiple submitted inputs and meetings with the WGEID, the WGEID issued to the U.S. Government general allegations regarding the enforced disappearance of migrants. Read more >