Mexico's Supreme Court (SCJN) affirmed that visitors subject to immigration deportation proceedings have the right to adequate protection, and in addition declared unconstitutional the periods during which the law allows someone to be detained at an immigration station.
Judges in the First Chamber of the Mexican Supreme Court heard the claims of several foreign citizens who were held at a migration station for more than 36 hours and were subject to deportation proceedings without legal representation. The judges ruled that the Mexican state is obliged to provide legal counsel to any foreigner who is subject to immigration proceedings, regardless of his will. If the alien is not authorized to hire a private defense attorney, the state must provide him with ex officio protection, in other words, a public defender.
In its ruling, the First Chamber also considered that the time frame was «fifteen working days» and the «sixty working days» provided for in article 111 of the Mexican Migration Law are contrary to the maximum period established by article 21 of the Federal Constitution for the deprivation of liberty of a person for administrative reasons, which reaches thirty-six hours.
The National Institute of Migration of Mexico (INM) has already issued a statement in which it has assured that it will comply with the ruling of the First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Mexico regarding Article 111 of the Migration Law. INM further recognizes the right of migrants to adequate legal protection «based on the criteria and time limits established in the migration rules».
Article 111 of the Mexican Migration Law establishes that the migration service makes a decision on the migration status of a foreigner within a period of no more than 15 working days, counting from the date of detention, during which the foreigner has the right to stay at the migration station. Under certain requirements, this period can be extended, but not more than 60 working days.
Many migrants who entered Mexico illegally or whose permitted period of stay in the country has expired, as a result of migration checks, end up at migration stations, where they are kept from several days to several weeks while awaiting a decision by the migration service on their future fate. The lack of budgetary funds to return a foreigner to his homeland leads to the fact that most of them are released after a couple of days with an order to leave Mexico within up to 20 days. However, in some cases the deportation process is carried out, and foreigners have the opportunity to wait for weeks before they are taken to the airport and put on a plane.