With the indefinite postponement of U.S. immigration hearings due to COVID-19, asylum seekers face ever-lengthening periods of stay in Mexico, where many have experienced violence, trauma, and human rights abuses.

Jose Mares is the Tijuana Logistics Coordinator for PHR partner Al Otro Lado, a legal services organization serving indigent deportees, refugees, and asylees in Mexico. Born in Mexico, Mares was brought to the United States when he was nine years old and lived there for three decades before being picked up by Immigration and Customs […]

The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed at the Matamoros migrant encampment along the Mexico-U.S. border, where more than 2,000 asylum seekers wait for U.S. immigration court hearings while stuck in squalid conditions. The following statement is attributable to Dr. Michele Heisler, medical director at PHR and professor of internal medicine and public health at […]

Conditions in the Matamoros camp – an informal settlement of 3,000 asylum seekers just across the border from Brownsville, Texas – are poor, with families living in tents and using makeshift latrines and showers. Asylum seekers have reported kidnappings and sexual and physical assaults to GRM staff. The clinic, whose staff includes asylum seeking health […]

“Tenía moretones en los hombros donde me sujetaron”. “Estoy tan angustiada que no concentro en nada, casi me desmayo. Me duele mucho el cerebro”. “Si piso suelo hondureño, nos matarán. Y no les importará que tenga un hijo”. Decenas de miles de solicitantes de asilo de México y Centroamérica esperan en la frontera entre EE.UU. […]

“I had bruises on my shoulders where they held me down.” “I’m so anguished that I cannot concentrate on anything…. I faint, my head hurts.” “If I step on Honduran soil, they will kill us. And they will not care that I have a child.” TIJUANA, MEXICO – Tens of thousands of asylum seekers from […]

New PHR clinical research details how current U.S. asylum policies that restrict asylum seekers’ right to enter the United States inflict further trauma on them every day they must wait.

The skin on her back was discolored and rough, the extensive burn scar clearly the result of a brutal assault. As I analyzed the wounds of the 30-year-old Central American before me, I sought to ease her vulnerability and avoid re-traumatization. I reassured her she was in safe hands. This was not the first medical […]

As the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border intensifies, there are indications that many have experienced significant physical and psychological trauma. Some are survivors of domestic and gang violence, including sexual violence. Some are suffering medical neglect in over-crowded U.S. immigrant detention facilities or dealing with the psychological repercussions of the administration’s brutal family separation […]

He looked out from the window in the door – the only window in the cold, cement room in which he was being held. Inside was only a bed and a urinal. It’s called a “suicide watch room” and he’s being held there because he suffers from mental illness, the guards explained. Far from a […]

After days of travel, fleeing abuse or persecution at home, a migrant mother finally reaches the United States, unsure of her fate and desperately seeking a better life for her and her family. Clutching her child’s hand, she’s told by the authorities that someone will look after her daughter while she appears before a judge to […]

PHR began its advocacy work in Mexico in the 1990s, investigating reports of torture and violations of medical neutrality in the state of Chiapas following an attempted uprising by the Zapatista National Army of Liberation. The findings were published in a 1994 report with Human Rights Watch titled “Mexico: Waiting for Justice in Chiapas,” which […]

For a doctor, there is nothing harder than seeing a patient with a treatable condition not receiving basic care. I recently met a woman in U.S. immigration detention. She said that although she had notified the corrections staff that she suffered from chronic hypertension, it took four days for her to be given her blood […]

Earlier this month, Mexico’s congress passed a resolution encouraging U.S. authorities to grant asylum to Mexican citizens fleeing the savage violence that has plagued the country over the last several years. The resolution signifies an acknowledgement that the Mexican government is incapable of protecting its own citizens and is understood to be the first time […]

PHR documents the Mexican government’s historic attempt and ultimate failure to implement international standards of forensic evaluations of torture and ill treatment.

PHR details the devastating impact that the ongoing, low-intensity conflict in Chiapas has had on the health and human rights of its civilians. This household survey is the first comprehensive population-based study to take place in the conflict zone-yielding alarming data on maternal mortality, child health (particularly rates of malnutrition and vaccination coverage), the number […]