That's one of the extreme allegations made in today's criminal complaint against the Felipe Calderón administration, filed this morning with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands (see principal story immediately below). The bizarre claim was one of many human rights violations set out in the 700 page legal document. It was reported by Mexico's Milenio news network.
Mexico's National Institute of Migration (INM), which handles tens of thousands of visa applications as well as many cases of undocumented Central Americans every year, has a checkered history. The agency has long been criticized for unwarranted delays in processing paperwork and general bureaucratic ineptness. But other allegations have been more sinister. In 2009, Hernán Vega Burgos, then a local head of operations in INM's Yucatán office, was implicated in a scheme to arrange false identification and work documents for women who had been smuggled into Mexico from several neighboring countries, including Cuba (http://www.sipse.com/noticias/3771-turnaran-expediente-contra-delegado--.html). Some of those women were later found to be working as prostitutes at a Mérida residence. Authorities investigated but declined to file criminal charges, despite finding that Vega Burgos had participated in extortion. He lost his INM position, was fined $5,000 USD and was banned from any form of public employment for 15 years. Trafficking in undocumented persons remains a major problem throughout Mexico, often involving women and minors employed in the sex-for-hire industry. (http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-human-trafficking-charges-filed.html).
In October, Mexico fired 121 immigration agents across the country for connections to organized crime (http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/mexico-fires-121-immigration-agents-for.html), and President Calderón has vowed to clean INM ranks of corruption (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/calderon-smacks-inm-no-immigration.html). It now remains to be seen whether the complainants in The Hague case will be able to prove their allegations of widespread human trafficking by Mexico's federal immigration department.
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