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INM grants asylum to Afghan couple who were rejected then deported from Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico — Mexico has granted asylum to an Afghan couple who had been rejected and deported from the country. After being rejected, the couple spent several days at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey before returning to Mexico.

The INM had expelled the couple, who are seven months pregnant, on the argument that “they incurred in inconsistencies” when they arrived at the immigration filter on October 13, because “they did not prove the reasons for their trip.”

The inadmissibility of the couple aroused the condemnation of international organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Institute for Women in Migration (Imumi), who followed the case while the couple were at the Istanbul airport.

On Sunday, the couple returned to Mexico and were granted asylum.

The INM indicated that the Afghan couple, when they went for their second review to corroborate the information from the Mexico City airport (AICM), reiterated in writing that they were in Mexico for tourism reasons, but they did not accredit residence address, activities to be carried out and flight out of the country.

There was no previous request for asylum before the Mexican authority abroad, as in the previous registered cases of this nationality in past days.

At no time did they ask the National Migration Institute at the AICM to recognize the status of political asylee in Mexico, the agency added, despite the fact that the organization Women for Migration (IMUMI) says the Afghan family did request asylum.

“The INM was never officially notified of the promotion of an amparo for the persons referred,” they said after IMUMI indicated that the Afghans presented the legal appeal before the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH).

“There was no prior request for asylum before the Mexican authority,” INM said adding that after their deportation, the couple initiated “an official procedure before the Mexican authority abroad to obtain asylum status,as they should have done from the beginning.”