Abstract
The United States is increasingly employing border externalization controls as a primary means of preventing immigrants and asylum seekers from accessing due process and protection on U.S. soil. From Title 42, to metering, to the Remain in Mexico program, to Texas’s State Bill 4 today, no country has been more instrumental in facilitating or halting this suite of policies than Mexico. In this paper, I address the rise of border externalization policies in the United States, describe key differences between Mexican and U.S. human rights frameworks, and show how U.S. lawyers have mischaracterized enforced disappearances of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border as kidnappings. I end by offering suggestions for how U.S. and Mexican lawyers can work together to apply international human rights frameworks when conducting abuse documentation and support one another in bringing challenges against U.S. border externalization policies through Mexican courts and international fora.
Recommended Citation
Cadwalader, Natalie,
SOUTH TO JUSTICE: USING INTERNATIONAL LAW TO DEFEND AGAINST U.S. BORDER EXTERNALIZATION POLICIES THROUGH THE EXAMPLE OF FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED MIGRANTS IN MEXICO,
64 Santa Clara L. Rev.
561
(2025).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol64/iss3/1
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