United States, Mexico Sign MOU To Combat Employment Discrimination
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Mexico’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs have established a formal partnership to protect workers from discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status, and national origin. On September 1, 2016, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and Mexican Ambassador Carlos Sada signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the embassy and its consulates and the Division’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC).
The MOU states the objective as “recogniz[ing] the collaborative relationship between the Participants to protect Mexican workers in the United States of America from employment discrimination in hiring, firing and recruiting or referring for a fee, based on their citizenship, immigration status, and national origin; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation.” To achieve this objective, the United States and Mexico agree to collaborate to provide Mexican nationals with information, guidance, and access to education and training resources to help them understand their rights under the antidiscrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and to facilitate the referral of appropriate allegations of discrimination, unfair documentary practices, and retaliation to OSC for investigation.
Among other things, OSC agrees to conduct training sessions on the application and enforcement of the antidiscrimination provision at a mutually determined time and place to appropriate consular staff identified by each Mexican consulate; attend and participate in appropriate forums organized by the Mexican consulates for Mexican nationals and employers involving topics under OSC’s jurisdiction; disseminate compliance and educational materials through the embassy to the Mexican consulates and Mexico’s stakeholders in other locations; and publicize the MOU to interested parties.
