[JURIST] Mexican Director General for Protection of Mexicans Abroad Daniel Hernandez [Earlham University Profile] told a Mexico City audience Friday that discrimination against Mexicans in US has increased, specifically citing [Xinhua report] the case of Cirila Baltazar Cruz, a Mexican immigrant from Oaxaca, who lost custody [Mississippi Clarion-Ledger report] of her child while in the US because of alleged child neglect. According to documents obtained by the Clarion-Ledger, Cruz lost custody [TIME report] partly because she could not speak any English and thereby placed her child in danger. Other reports have said that a misunderstanding [Washington Independent report] between her and the hospital which led authorities to believe that she was a prostitute contributed to the state intervention. According to the reports, Baltazar Cruz speaks no English and barely any Spanish and speaks Chatino [EB backgrounder], a language native to her region.

In 2005, the Tennessee Judiciary disciplined [Lebanon Democrat report] a Judge after he ordered a Mexican immigrant to learn English or lose custody [NYT report] of her child. Last year, a group of American citizens of Mexican descent filed a lawsuit [JURIST report; press release] against the US State Department [official website] alleging that they had been denied passports because they were of Mexican descent and had been delivered by midwives.