Prof. Meili Presents Research on the Constitutionalization of Asylum Law in Mexico at the Annual Congress of the Latin American Studies Association

Professor Stephen Meili presented a paper at the annual Congress of the Latin American Studies Association in Barcelona on the constitutionalization of asylum law in Mexico and its impact on refugees from Central America who are apprehended by Mexican authorities on their way to the United States. The paper was part of a panel on the constitutionalization of human rights law in Latin America that Prof. Meili organized and chaired at the Congress. Prof. Meili’s research on this subject includes an analysis of strategic litigation by refugee lawyers in Mexico who are utilizing recently adopted human rights provisions in the Mexican Constitution (including the right to asylum) to compel courts to take a constitutional approach to asylum law, which affords greater protections to refugees than those permitted under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This topic is of particular importance in the current political environment, as Mexico has experienced a spike in asylum applications as a result of increased apprehensions of Central American refugees in Mexico, as well as the migration of many Venezuelan refugees to Mexico.