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butterbean · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2269

Mexico's human rights agency has accused officials in Sonora of mistreating illegal Central American migrants, saying detainees were jammed into overcrowded cells and denied food and water for hours during a crackdown last year.

The report comes as the Mexican government, under pressure from the United States, is ramping up efforts to catch thousands of foreigners passing through on their way to the U.S. border, and as migrant rights groups complain authorities are ill-equipped for the task.

Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights said immigration agents "violated (migrants') right to legality, judicial protection and dignified treatment" during a two-week inspection period from April 20 to May 7. Its report was released Jan. 19. advertisement

The inspection coincided with a crackdown in Sonora, said Maria Jesus Romero, regional spokeswoman for the National Migration Institute, Mexico's immigration-control agency.

Immigration agents had set up checkpoints along major highways to catch Central Americans traveling by bus to the U.S. border, she said. They were temporarily putting detainees in police lockups in Caborca, 80 miles southwest of Nogales, and in Hermosillo, 170 miles south of Nogales.

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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0206migrantrights.html