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SB 1070 Backlash in Latin America Continues

Posted August 5, 2010 by Leslie Josephs

Despite the injunction against the most controversial parts of Arizona immigration law SB 1070, some Latin American governments complain that a climate of hate against Latino immigrants is already in place, making the state fertile ground for human rights violations.

Members of Mercosur, the political and economic bloc of the Southern Cone region, MADE UP OF Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, blasted the law at a meeting on Wednesday in the northwestern city of San Juan, Argentina.

In a joint statement member nations said:

“...the application of these policies and laws could increase cases of discrimination and persecution of migrants as well as racist and xenophobic attitudes.”

Member nations also called on industrialized nations to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

Most signatories are developing countries. The United States and most of Europe has not signed or ratified the convention.

Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister Patricia Espinosa, who participated in the Mercosur summit as an observer on behalf of Mexico, was quoted as saying by Spanish news agency EFE, that the law “criminalized undocumented immigrants.”

The government of the country that is the largest emitter of migrants to the United States applauded the Federal District Court’s decision last week to block the most controversial parts of the law, but said it will not stop fighting the measure until it is declared unconstitutional.

“In keeping with its firm commitment to the protection of the rights of Mexicans abroad, regardless of their migratory status, the Mexican Government will continue following up the legal process derived from the decision of the District Court and higher courts until the SB 1070 is declared unconstitutional,” said the Foreign Affairs Secretariat in a statement last week.

Mexico submitted an amicus curiae brief on the law, which was supported by the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru.

In El Salvador, where most migrants travel through Mexico to reach the United States, the government recommended that its citizens avoid traveling to Arizona, despite some blocks on the law, and advised its citizens in Arizona to immediately notify the consulate in Tuscon if they suspect their rights have been violated.


Image courtesy of Immanuel Giel via Wikimedia Commons.

Tags : argentina, arizona, bolivia, chile, colombia, costa rica, el salvador, guatemala, latin america, mercosur, nicaragua, paraguay, peru, sb 1070, united nations

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