 Lawmaker criticizes homeland security bill.

A Mexican lawmaker criticized a bill to create a Homeland Security Law that many non-profit organizations and international agencies have said would violate human rights.

Congresswoman Luz Argelia Paniagua, a Mexicali member of the National Action Party, considered the bill as illegal.

“First, we should have approved the Mixed Commanding Law to provide certainty to state and municipal police officers,” she said. “This means we cannot give step two without step one.”

Paniagua said many Mexicans are afraid of the Homeland Security Law due to the fact that it would militarize states and cities.

“The Army has a specific task for the times when its activation is needed,” she said, referring to the Emergency Response Operations held by the military, also known as DN-III. “They are not allowed to patrol the streets or to ease the job assigned to a state government.”

The military has been on the streets for over a decade, when then-President Felipe Calderon — a member of Paniagua’s party — launched his war on drugs.

Congresswoman Nancy Sanchez, a Mexicali member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, denied claims of potential violations of human rights derived from the Homeland Security Law. — Arturo Bojorquez, abojorquez@ivpressonline.com