Amnesty International, along with other rights groups, filed a brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Innovation Law Lab v. McAleenan supporting the challenge to the so-called “Migrant Protection Protocols.” The brief draws upon Amnesty International’s research on the U.S./Mexico border documenting the grave harms faced by individuals in Mexico attempting to access safety in the United States. In particular, the brief describes:
- How the policy violates domestic and international law, including international human rights law, by systematically failing to screen asylum-seekers before sending them back to Mexico, and how only a miniscule fraction of returnees are ever removed from the program once entered
- The dangers returnees face under the program in Mexico, including violent crime and extortion, often committed by the very police tasked with protecting them
- The grave risks returnees face of deportation from Mexico to their countries of origin, including Mexico’s history of deporting asylum-seekers in violation of international law and its recent campaign to detain and deport Central American migrants en masse in response to U.S. pressure, which has led to at least one returnee being deported from Mexico to her country of origin.
The brief in full can be accessed here. In addition to Amnesty International, the other rights groups supporting this effort include: the Washington Office on Latin America, the Latin America Working Group, and the Institute for Women in Migration in Mexico. The brief was drafted with the support of the U.S. law firm Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz.
Please contact Charanya Krishnaswami, Americas Advocacy Director, at [email protected] or (202) 675-8766 for more information.