{"id":17395,"date":"2018-07-23T14:57:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T18:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17395"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:13:13","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:13:13","slug":"can-mexico-be-an-honest-broker-with-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/07\/23\/can-mexico-be-an-honest-broker-with-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Mexico be an Honest Broker With Refugees?"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan says he wants a \u201csafe third country\u201d<\/a> agreement to ensure that migrants passing through Mexico are required to request asylum there first.<\/p>\n

If newly elected President Manuel Lopez Obrador signs on, would such an agreement be worth the paper it\u2019s printed on?<\/p>\n

Lopez Obrador campaigned on a pledge to revamp his nation\u2019s \u201cpassive role on immigration.\u201d<\/a> His new interior minister, Olga S\u00e1nchez Cordero, has vowed to make Mexico \u201ca place of sanctuary\u201d for refugees.<\/p>\n

This would be a dramatic turnaround from Mexico\u2019s typical handling of Central American migrants \u2013 waving them through to the U.S. and exposing them to a gantlet of abuse and depredations along the way.<\/p>\n

Indeed, little in Mexico\u2019s performance \u2013 marked by rampant corruption and routine abandonment of the rule of law — points to reform. Accepting and enforcing a binding agreement on refugees seems a stretch.<\/p>\n

Under international law, anyone\u00a0has\u00a0the right to\u00a0apply\u00a0for\u00a0asylum\u00a0in any\u00a0country\u00a0that has\u00a0signed the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, and to remain there until authorities\u00a0have assessed their\u00a0claim.<\/p>\n

Mexico signed the refugee convention<\/a> (49 years later) and in 2010, the U.N. High Commission on Refugees hailed the country\u2019s approval of the Law on Refugees and Complementary Protection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This is a breakthrough piece of legislation that significantly advances international protection practices in Mexico, and for Latin America as a whole,” enthused the U.N. High Commissioner, doing his best imitation of Neville Chamberlain\u2019s infamous \u201cPeace in Our Time\u201d declaration.<\/p>\n

The situation in Mexico has only deteriorated.<\/p>\n

Like Donald Trump, Lopez Obrador is a disruptor and may do things his predecessors have not. If he does make an effort, the Mexican judicial system may have an easier time turning around economic migrants posing as asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, rooting out corruption and crime in Mexico will not be an easy task, and having been granted asylum in Mexico, many migrants (after coming to the conclusion that Mexico is not much better than the countries they left) might just use that as an opportunity to cross into the United States when the opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n

The arrest of two Mexican nationals last week shows how criminal behavior<\/a> is deeply embedded in the country\u2019s ruling class. The cousin of a Lopez Obrador transition team official (also governor of the crime-ridden border state of Tamaulipas) was caught trying to fly out of San Antonio with $900,000 in drug money. Rafael Gabriel Martinez Leal told Homeland Security agents he smuggled $1 million of narcotics proceeds a week to Mexico. Drug- and human-trafficking corridors are often one and the same.<\/p>\n

Amid the ongoing crisis south of our border, McAleenan and the Trump administration are right to pursue a refugee agreement with Mexico — and to expect Lopez Obrador to live up to his lofty humanitarian agenda.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the U.S. Congress must do its part to stanch the migrant tide by enacting strict immigration laws in the best interest of the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a crisis and our legal framework [is]inviting it,\u201d McAleenan observed. He\u2019s right about that, too.