RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MEXICO:
Increase funding for the provision of specialized victim services and shelters in partnership with civil society, and refer victims of all forms of trafficking to services and provide them adequate protection; strengthen efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and convict and punish traffickers, especially for forced labor crimes; increase efforts to hold public officials complicit in trafficking accountable through prosecutions and convictions; enhance formal procedures to identify victims among vulnerable populations, such as people in prostitution and undocumented migrants, and to refer them to appropriate care; modify anti-trafficking laws at the federal and state levels to reflect the international anti-trafficking law; increase the ability of regional and state coalitions and specialized units to more effectively respond to trafficking cases through increased funding and trained staff; verify through increased training and monitoring that victims are not coerced into testifying against traffickers or treated as traffickers; strengthen data collection efforts; provide effective protection for witnesses and victims testifying against traffickers; increase training on victim identification and treatment for government employees; and improve coordination mechanisms between federal, state, and local authorities.

PROSECUTION
The government continued uneven law enforcement efforts. Authorities reported an increase in the number of trafficking sentences at the federal and state levels, but it was unclear how many of these sentences involved trafficking as defined by the 2000 UN TIP Protocol, and law enforcement efforts were undermined

by significant official complicity in trafficking crimes.The general anti-trafficking law of 2012 prohibits all forms of human trafficking, prescribing penalties ranging from five to 30 years’ imprisonment; these penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. However, the law is overly broad as it establishes the use of force, fraud, and coercion as aggravating factors rather than essential elements of the crime and defines facilitating or profiting from the prostitution of others, illegal adoption, and possession and distribution of child pornography as forms of human trafficking. Federal officials have jurisdiction over all international trafficking cases and all cases that take place on federally administered territory, involve organized crime, or involve allegations against government officials. States investigate other internal trafficking cases. While most states have specific trafficking laws, only some state laws criminalize all forms of trafficking, and inconsistencies among state laws complicated interstate investigations and prosecutions. Cases involving individuals who may have been forced by criminal groups to engage in illicit activities were not handled as potential trafficking cases, despite indicators of force or coercion.
Partial data based on the broad definition of trafficking in the 2012 law indicated federal authorities initiated 253 investigations and state entities initiated at least 196 investigations for trafficking in 2014, compared with 139 federal investigations and 458 state investigations reported in 2013. Authorities did not report the number of trafficking prosecutions initiated in 2014, compared with 30 federal prosecutions and approximately 177 state prosecutions reported in 2013 government data. Mexican authorities reported sentencing three traffickers at the federal level and at least 108 at the state level in 2014; this represented an increase in reported sentences from 2013 when authorities did not issue any federal trafficking convictions and only 73 at the state level, including 38 in the federal district. It was unclear how many of these convictions were for trafficking crimes as defined by the 2000 UNTIP Protocol, and officials did not report the range of sentences. Of the 2014 convictions, 78 were for sex trafficking in the federal district.
In many parts of the country, law enforcement focused on investigating bars and nightclubs for administrative irregularities, as opposed to intelligence-based operations targeting traffickers. NGOs reported the overly-broad law led some officials to focus on targeting people in prostitution instead of focusing on individuals experiencing force, fraud, or coercion. Some public officials conflated trafficking with migrant smuggling and prostitution. Investigations and prosecutions were sometimes delayed while authorities determined which prosecutors had jurisdiction or coordinated with officials in other parts of the country, to the detriment of both the criminal case and the victims.The 2012 law obligated states to have a dedicated human trafficking prosecutor, but many states lacked funding to employ one. Some officials’ lack of understanding of trafficking led to cases being tried as more minor offenses as well as traffickers’ acquittals. Authorities maintained strong law enforcement cooperation with U.S. officials, partnering on at least 15 joint law enforcement operations, one of which resulted in a victim being reunited with her two children. Mexican authorities also enhanced law enforcement cooperation with the United States by forming a new working group to exchange information on human trafficking and migrant smuggling investigations. Some federal government agencies hosted anti-trafficking training with foreign donor support and funding, but much specialized training was provided by foreign governments and civil society.

Women in prostitution in Mexico City stated officials forced them to sign declarations accusing detained individuals of trafficking, raising serious concerns about law enforcement tactics. Labor officials in the capital certified some people independently engaged in prostitution to prevent them from being detained or extorted by authorities. Women at nightclubs and other establishments launched protests in response to authorities’ reported use of violence during anti-trafficking operations in Mexico City. NGOs also reported officials often re-victimized trafficking victims by their lack of sensitivity. Despite ongoing reports of extensive official complicity, authorities did not report any prosecutions or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking in 2014; the government has not reported convicting a complicit official since 2010. Authorities apprehended a municipal employee wanted for trafficking in Oaxaca but did not report new investigations of complicit officials in 2014.The government did not report the status of the 2013 investigation of two Tijuana police officers for exploiting a sex trafficking victim or the status of the 2012 investigation of a Chihuahua state employee charged with forced labor.