Mexico has given the United States access to their detention facilities for the past decade, allowing officials to collect biometric data of tens of thousands of Central Americans and other migrants who have been arrested, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
The program was launched in 2008 under former President George W. Bush and operates in detention facilities in southern Mexico and in the capital of Mexico City. It aids officials in identifying criminals, gang members and potential terrorists who may have intended to cross into the U.S along the southern border with Mexico.
While President Donald Trump recently blasted Mexico for doing "very little, if not nothing" to stop migrants passing through on their way to the U.S., he later softened his rhetoric. Mexican officials have largely kept quiet on the program, fearing public backlash by citizens who distrust foreign interference by the U.S.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security gather migrants' fingerprints, ocular scans and other features such as tattoos and scars. The information gathered on convicted criminals and potential extremists is immediately forwarded to DHS and U.S. law enforcement and intelligence databases, according to an unnamed U.S. official.
"These are bilateral programs that build Mexican capacity in a way that benefits our security," said an official from the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
The program is paid for through the $2.5 billion Merida security assistance program launched by Bush, and officials see it as a model that could be used in other countries. Talks are underway with Central American nations to adopt similar programs.
The focus is on migrants coming into Mexico along their southern border, as it is a smaller swath of land than the northern border with the U.S. Central Americans account for more than half of those arrested by U.S. agents along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Arrests along the southern U.S. border were over 50,000 in March, representing the highest one-month total since Trump took office. Last year, 95,000 migrants were detained by the Mexican government, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
"I think we would have been in a significantly worse position in McAllen [Texas] and the Rio Grande Valley if it wasn't for the work that Mexico was doing on their southern border," said Gil Kerlikowske, who served as commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during part of President Barack Obama's presidency.
"Mexico's our ally. Mexico's our friend," he added. "The last thing we should be doing is criticizing them."
U.S. officials said this month the program will be expanding into detention facilities in Tijuana, Mexicali and Raynosa.
A spokesman for Mexico's Interior Ministry said he had no information about the program, while a spokesman for the National Institute of Migration and the Foreign Ministry declined to comment. The U.S. State Department declined to confirm program details.
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