Mexico’s top immigration official resigns in wake of massacre of 72 migrants

Mexican immigration official quits after massacre

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s top immigration official resigned Monday in the wake of a massacre of 72 migrants that exposed how brutally drug cartels have come to control human smuggling routes in the country.

Cecilia Romero stepped down as head of the National Institute of Migration, a post she had held since the beginning of President Felipe Calderon’s term in December 2006, the Interior Department said in a statement.

The statement gave no reason for her resignation, only praising Romero’s efforts to modernize the Mexico’s immigration system and improve the treatment of migrants. It did not name her replacement.

A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue, said the government was looking for someone with more experience in security to head the institute.

The official said the massacre three weeks ago highlighted how intertwined drug trafficking and illegal immigration have become in Mexico.

“She’s revamped the institute and made it a more human and respectful place,” the official said. “Given that organized crime has gotten into the business, we need a different type of head with a different type of background.”

The bodies of the 72 Central and South American migrants were found Aug. 24 at a ranch about 100 miles (80 kilometers) south of Brownsville, Texas.

Police have arrested several alleged members of the Zetas gang, which they suspect killed the migrants after they refused to work as drug traffickers. It was Mexico’s worst drug cartel massacre to date.

Drug cartels have long controlled migration corridors in Mexico, demanding that migrants pay for passage through their territory. Now, Mexican authorities say drug cartels are increasingly trying to recruit vulnerable migrants to smuggle drugs.

Romero, a former congresswoman who steadily rose up in Calderon’s National Action Party, revamped migrant holding centers across the country and ensured that immigration agents were trained in human rights, the Interior Department said in its statement.

Under Calderon, Mexico has signed several agreements with other countries designed to ensure safe deportations and ease the plight of migrants, including an accord allowing Guatemalans and Belizeans to work in border regions of Mexico for up to a year. Mexico has also passed a law stating that is not a crime to be in the country illegally.

Even so, the government has come under intense criticism for continuing abuses against migrants, who are constantly kidnapped and assaulted as they pass through Mexico — often with the collusion of corrupt police or immigration agents.

Hours before Romero’s resignation was announced, Mexico’s Congress summoned her to a hearing to explain what the government was doing to protect migrants.

Opposition legislators warned Mexico was losing its moral right to demand better treatment for immigrants in the United States.

The massacre “is the tip of the iceberg that revealed the neglect of Mexican authorities, who are incapable of meeting its responsibilities in human rights,” said Sen. Ricardo Monreal Avila of the Workers’ Party.