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About Us

Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (Center for Migrant Rights) is a new and innovative non-profit organization based in central Mexico dedicated to improving the working conditions of migrant workers in the United States.

We operate throughout Mexico, and we see our constituency as not only including migrant workers and their family members, but also U.S. and Mexican organizations that serve migrant workers, as well as government officials who work with migrant populations or who develop policies affecting migrants.

Centro de los Derechos del Migrante opened its office in Zacatecas, Mexico in September 2005.

Why?

CDM seeks to overcome the limitations of the current system that serves millions of Mexico-based workers.

Workers' rights groups in the United States do not have the capacity to reach out to injured and/or unpaid migrant and "guest" workers, once they have returned to Mexico, (as guest workers must according to the terms of their visa). And because of employer control and immigration issues, transnational workers are often unable or unwilling to discuss their employment situations while in the United States.

Rachel Micah-Jones, CDM's Executive Director, had the idea for the new organization when interviewing guest workers in their home villages in Mexico. "When I spoke to the same workers months earlier in the U.S., they were intimidated and mostly silent, but in Mexico, they poured out stories of oppressive working conditions, waiting hours to speak to me in an increasingly dark room."

How?

By operating on the ground throughout Mexico, CDM fills a gap in the worker's rights advocacy system and complements the existing programs by providing outreach, rights education, leadership development, direct representation and intake and referral to workers not currently served by the present structure of employment law projects and public interest law firms.

CDM’s target population is Mexico-based migrant workers who experience problems, such as unpaid wages or workplace injuries, with their employment in the U.S. CDM is located in Zacatecas, Central Mexico because it is home to the most transparent migration program in Mexico and it is a major sending area of migrant workers. Over 50% of Zacatecans live abroad; Remittances are the largest source of income for the state. Zacatecas is also close to Guanajuato and other major sending areas, such as San Luis Potosí and Queretaro.

See more details about our programs

Where in Mexico?

In just over a year, we have given workers' rights presentations and taken depositions in some fifty towns in fourteen Mexican states reaching well over a thousand workers.

The white states are ones that CDM has been active in

Some of the communities we have visited include (State followed by town):

Jalisco

Huejucar, El Hepazote, Ocotlan, Villa Hidalgo, Rancho Yañez, La Barca

Guerrero

Cruz Grande, San Marcos, Ometepec, Rancho Viejo, Amatepec, Tlapa, Tlacoachistlahuaca

Oaxaca

Putla, Juxtlahuaca, Yucunicoco, Rancho Morelos, Santa Cruz Itundujia

Puebla

Cholula, Tlapanala

Estado de Mexico

Malinalco, Tlanepantla, Naucalpan

Guanajuato

Xichu, Celaya, Tierra Blanca, Cano de San Isidro, San Jose Iturbide, Salvatierra, Acambaro, Piedras Pintadas, Beltran, La Higuerita, La Savilera, San Diego, El Aguacate, Apasea el Alto

Veracruz

Bejucal

Queretaro

Rio Escanela, Pinal de Amoles, Jalpan

Zacatecas

Tepetongo, Jerez, Sombrerete, Tlaltenango, Rancho Nuevo, Juancho Rey, Monte Escobedo, Ojo de Agua de Rojas, Pozo de Gamboa, Lampotal, Vetagrande

Tlaxcala

Atlangatepec

Hidalgo

Chapulhaucan, Ixmiquilpan, Pachuca, Tulancingo

Michoacan

Sahuayo, Jiquilpan, Santiago Tangamandapio

Tamaulipas

Ciudad Mante

Nuevo León

Doctor Arroyo

San Luis Potosi

Tamazunchale, Ciudad del Maiz, Taman, La Dulce Grande, Rio Verde, El Refugio

and many others.

Please feel free to contact us about our services

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