Detention of migrants in times of Covid

The COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. To date, more than 72.4 million cases have been recorded worldwide. The largest number of cases is concentrated in the American continent, specifically in the United States of America (USA) and Mexico, countries that occupy the first places in the record of infections and deaths from COVID-19 in the region.

   Around the world, governments have developed a series of policies to minimize and avoid contagion that include the identification of the areas of greatest transmission, social distancing, the promotion of the use of personal protective equipment, the suspension of non-essential activities and the limitation of border traffic. However, the public health response seems to have forgotten migrants or applicants for international protection, despite the fact that various international organizations have urged governments to adopt an approach that guarantees the inclusion of migrants and persons in need of protection – regardless of their immigration status – in planning, response and public health messages in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

   The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed many lives around the world, yet people’s vulnerability is not the same. There are sectors of the population that are in a situation of structural discrimination and greater vulnerability, such as migrants or people in situations of mobility, whose condition worsens in the context of a pandemic due to the restriction in access to universal rights such as health, food, housing, and work. The risk of contagion for migrants increases in places of detention and in closed, small and common spaces, where it is difficult to maintain the proper distance to avoid contact with other people. The repeated practice of detaining migrants increases its negative impact in times of Covid-19, coupled with poor detention conditions.

   Mexico and the United States of America share the main transit migration corridor in the world. It is also the second most lethal migratory corridor and a place where people in a situation of human mobility face a diversity of violations of their human rights such as life, integrity, freedom, security, health, among others. The situation of risk and vulnerability for people in the context of mobility who travel this corridor has been magnified exponentially in the last three years, due to the signing of immigration agreements that include restrictive measures, security and border closure that increase the insecurity of the migrant people by encouraging clandestinity and the search for more insecure alternative routes.

   Shelters, particularly those that do not have adequate infrastructure and / or state recognition, indicate serious complications for the care of migrants during the pandemic. The lack of food supplies, water, sanitizing material, adequate spaces to guarantee a healthy distance, economic resources to guarantee the payment of rent and basic services, and lack of medical or psychological attention if required by migrants, are problems that complicate the care of migrants and applicants for international protection housed there.

   It is important for the states to guarantee equal treatment and without discrimination to all migrants to access the right to health, support and assistance services, and protection of their personal integrity and other rights. Furthermore, they must design an inter-institutional plan to meet the needs of migrants, protect and guarantee their rights; and design care protocols for migrants in conditions of multiple vulnerability, such as pregnant women, children, people with pre-existing diseases, in the context of Covid-19.

   On the other hand, the rights to personal liberty, personal integrity, life and health must be guaranteed in detention centers. Immigration regularization policies for people released from immigration stations and temporary stays must be implemented. Immigration controls and other intimidating measures that discourage access to health institutions by migrants must be avoided. Governments and institutions also initiate administrative sanctioning procedures against the personnel who committed abuses and human rights violations against migrants in immigration stations, guarantee reparation of the damage and guarantee non-repetition. Governments and institutions must guarantee migrants free access to physical and mental health, adequate and sufficient medical care, medicines and free tests in cases of Covid-19. Lastly, they must guarantee supplies and conditions of hygiene, cleanliness, sanitation and basic services in migratory stations.

   Migration is a process and it might decrease during a pandemic, but the present world situation shows us that it will not stop. It will not stop because there are still structural problems that people have to face at home, such as poverty, violence, lack of opportunities, and prosecution. Until these perils do not stop, people will continue to migrate, and governments must work to ensure migrants’ safety.

Ana Figueroa