the activist Alejandro Solalinde met this Monday afternoon with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to analyze the creation of the National Coordination of Immigration and Foreign Affairs, which could replace the National Institute of Migration (INM).
Upon leaving the National Palace, the migrant rights activist stated that López Obrador will be in charge of communicating the change in the institution and the profiles of the people who will be part of said coordination. Solalinde said that there are already proposals and they are about “people from very broad sectors, where there will be representation from the churches, the academy, the National Guard, the Armed Forces, Human Rights, Conapred (…) and they will be, too , representatives of migrant houses”.
He informed that there is already authorization so that, shortly, possible participants are summoned and soon there will be a greater advance; although he assured that the consuls and ambassadors of the nations closest to the country, such as Guatemala, should also be involved in this new dependency.
Alejandro Solalinde He said that with the creation of the National Coordination of Immigration and Foreign Affairs, the military commanders would stop carrying out tasks of migrant strategy.
“Not one (military or member of the National Guard will carry out immigration tasks), none, but everything is a process. They’re going to be scared when they see him in the press, but it’s not my idea, it’s the president’s instruction. But we are going to do it legally, as it should be,” said the activist.
In addition, he affirmed that the new institution will not be influenced by any religion, but will be of a humanitarian level “where we can all meet, with no other interest than being human.”
Regarding the person who would take the position of executive secretary, Solalinde announced that it is a person who has carried out work with a pastoral dimension of human mobility.
Meeting with Guatemalan authorities
Before the meeting with López Obrador, in the morning, Alejandro Solalinde met with Guatemalan authorities to discuss necessary actions to avoid tragedies such as the one that occurred at the provisional station in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, in which a fire inside the place caused the death of 40 migrants.
Through its social networks, the Embassy of Guatemala in Mexico explained that they spoke with the activist about carrying out a series of new coordinated actions, with the purpose of continuing to strengthen comprehensive respect for the human rights of people who migrate.
(With information from Arturo Rojas.)
