In Mexico, judges may soon be chosen by ballot. On Sept. 4, the lower house of Mexico’s Congress passed a proposal that would redesign the entire judiciary of Mexico, according to the New York Times. The plan would allow almost all of the country’s judges — more than 7,000 — to be elected by voters, be they at the federal, state or local level. Currently, the Mexican president appoints judges by virtue of their qualifications and training.
The stars have aligned in 2024: around half of the global population is living in a country going through an election cycle, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Immigration and migration policy have been key issues throughout several campaigns across the globe. In this article, Mount Holyoke News will explore how individual countries and their leaders are navigating the topic of immigration politically during their election cycles.
On June 2, 2024, millions of Mexicans will vote for their new government leaders.
With departing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ineligible for reelection, the stage is set for a showdown between his protégée, Claudia Sheinbaum — who most recently served as mayor of Mexico City — and the representative of the conservative coalition, Xóchitl Gálvez.
On Tuesday, April 11, criminal charges were brought against Mexico’s top immigration official, Francisco Garduño, for the fire that killed 40 people in March 2023, NPR reported. Five other lower-ranking officials have also been charged, as well as a Venezuelan migrant. The fire occurred on March 27 in a facility housing 68 men, CNN explained.
On March 27, 2023, at least 38 migrants from Central and South America died in a fire at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Reuters reported. According to NPR, a surveillance video, which was posted online, shows detainees trapped in a locked cell while uniformed agents left the building without aiding them. BBC reported that the agents ignored the men trying to escape the fire while they yelled and banged on the door. After the smoke filled the room, however, it is unknown what took place at the facility.
Guatemalan police and military forces attempted to block 4,000 Honduran migrants from heading north toward Mexico and the U.S. border on Jan. 17. The group confronted a caravan of migrants on a highway in southeastern Guatemala. The police tried to force back the migrants with batons and tear gas but were unsuccessful, as the Honduran migrants broke through them.
BY CASEY ROEPKE ’21
When asylum-seekers reach the U.S.-Mexico border, they have not yet reached the end of their long journey — they are only at the beginning. After traveling for days or weeks with limited resources, migrants still have to go through legal processes of requesting asylum. On Nov. 25, tensions around the border escalated to a visible breaking point at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry in San Diego, California.
BY SARAH LOFSTROM '19
This past week, over ten thousand people took to the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico to protest legislation that would allow for same sex marriage in Mexico. The legislation proposed by President Enrique Peña Nieto on May 17, Mexico’s National Day Against Homophobia, would allow for same-sex marriages across all thirty-one states of Mexico, as it is currently only allowed in ten states.
