COVID-19 IMPACTS ON IMMIGRATION DETENTION: GLOBAL RESPONSES BETWEEN OBLIVION AND CRIMINAL NEGLECT: MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES DURING THE COVID-19 HEALTH EMERGENCY IN MEXICO From the moment COVID-19 was declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO)1, it was clear that States would need to implement urgent public health measures for its detection, prevention, containment, and treatment. COVID-19 was eventually declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020. At the same time, the Mexican Refugee Commission (COMAR) was experiencing a serious backlog in dealing with asylum seekers. Of the little more than 90,000 people who had requested asylum in Mexico between January 2018 and October 2019, 70% were still waiting for resolution of their cases at the end of 2019.6 Although state responses were not homogenous due to the particular characteristics of the pandemic, most countries implemented either voluntary or obligatory limitations on the freedom of movement and/ or on personal freedoms, such as geographical restrictions within or between cities, total or partial border closures, preventive isolation, curfews, and obligatory lockdowns or quarantines. 2 All carried profound social, economic and political implications for the various governments, and not least, for migrants. Thus, on 28 February 2020, when Mexico registered its first case of COVID-19,7 around 8,000 people had already been detained for immigration reasons8 in 59 migrant detention centers.9 Just over 11,000 asylum seekers had recently arrived in the country,10 adding to the existing backlog of thousands in process with the COMAR. At the same time, a conservatively estimated 10,000 people awaited their interviews and hearings in the United States along the northern Mexican border under the Migrant Protection Protocols. Migrants and refugees thus already faced immigration and state policies that, by act or omission, systematically violated their freedoms and civil, social, and cultural rights. Guarantees and protections of the rights of the migrant – particularly irregular migrant- and refugee populations in the face of the pandemic, were late in coming and contained intrinsic problems and contradictions. If no state was prepared for the pandemic, even less were they able to adopt an approach that would deal with the specific needs of a heterogenous and vulnerable population, who, in addition, is on the move, uprooted and frequently criminalized by restrictive State immigration policies. At least, this was the case in Mexico. Even prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, the violation of rights and the vulnerability of people in situations of irregular, transit, or destination migration, were already concerning. In May 2019, after a brief period during which the federal government had exercised its sovereignty and defined its own immigration policies, it gave in to pressure and trade threats from the United States. 3 Mexico began to reinforce control and detention of migrants, with measures such as the militarization of the southern border4. Mexico also agreed to accept asylum seekers from a variety of countries who were forcibly returned from the United States, and to keep them along the northern border in accordance with the Migrant Protection Protocols so-called “Remain in Mexico” program5. In March 2020, the situation worsened. The Mexican State’s policies and actions regarding migrants oscillated between measures proposed by federal health bodies that overlooked the migrant population, its characteristics and composition, and immigration policies of enforcement and control. This resulted in: increased vulnerability and invisibility of the migrant population; fewer possibilities for assistance and access to humanitarian services; exposure to the risk of contracting COVID-19; violations of the right to health, life, security, integrity and personal freedom, among others; and finally, a lack of access to justice and effective judicial protection against the violations to which they were subjected. On one hand, on 20 May 2020, the Mexican State began implementing measures for the control and epidemiological monitoring of COVID-19. These included social distancing and the suspension of non-essential activities in the public, private and social sector, as well as voluntary “sheltering” at home by the population11, under the slogan of “Remain at Home”. 1 World Health Organization (WHO). Declaration on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (2002) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of the new coronavirus, 30 January 2020. Available at: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/detail/30-01-2020-statement-on-the-second-meeting-ofthe-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov) 2 Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA). COVID-19: summary of the main measures, actions and policies. 2 September, 2020. Available at: http://www.sela.org/media/3219723/covid-19-resumen-de-las-principales-medidas-estados-miembros-sela.pdf 3 COLVIN Jill, LONG Colleen. Trump announces new Mexican tariffs in response to migrants. May 30, 2019. Available at: https://apnews.com/ afec271c5f9c4fdb82f57b48cb593add; Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman. Mexico Agreed to Take Border Actions Months Before Trump Announced Tariff Deal. June 8, 2019, Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/08/us/politics/trump-mexico-deal-tariffs.html 4 SEMPLE, Kirk. Mexico’s National Guard, a ‘Work in Progress,’ Deployed to Curb Migration. June 14, 2019. CThe New York Times. Available at:: https://www.nytimes. com/2019/06/14/world/americas/mexico-migration-national-guard.html 5 US Department of State. U.S.-Mexico Joint Declaration. June 7, 2019. Disponible en: https://www.state.gov/u-s-mexico-joint-declaration/ 6 Asylum Access Mexico. Information note on Asylum in Mexico. January 2020. Available at: https://asylumaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/HOJAINFORMATIVA-SOBRE-EL-ASILO-MEXICANO.pdf 7 DOF. Monday 30 March 2020. Agreement in which the epidemic caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus (COVID-19) is declared a health emergency due to force majeure. 8 The figure is not exact. It uses, as a point of reference, the number of people detained in February 2020, according to official statistics provided by the Immigration Policy Unit. Migration Statistics Bulletin, 2020. Available at: http://www.politicamigratoria.gob.mx/work/models/PoliticaMigratoria/CEM/Estadisticas/Boletines_ Estadisticos/2020/Boletin_2020.pdf 9 Citizens Council of the National Immigration Institute. Migrants in detention in Mexico. Mission for the Monitoring of Detention Centers and Temporary Shelters of the INM. July, 2017. P. 42. Available at: https://observatoriocolef.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/CCINM-Informe_Final- Monitoreo.pdf. 10 The figures correspond to the number of asylum seekers in the months of January and February 2020. From December 2019, official figures regarding refugees in Mexico are only published in graph format by the Coordinator of the Mexican Refugee Commission on his personal twitter account. (@AndresRSilva_) “COMAR en números”, 5 March, 2020, Available at: https://twitter.com/AndresRSilva_/status/1235779099412619265 11 Remain at home is understood as the voluntary limitation on movement, remaining at homes for as long as possible. 38 International Detention Coalition and Western Sydney University