Mexico, San Diego renew cross-border agreement to help domestic violence victims

The Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego and the San Diego City Attorney’s Office renewed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to assist victims of domestic violence in the border region.

“San Diego faces unique challenges because we are a border city,” said San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliot at the signing ceremony at Your Safe Place, the city’s main domestic violence service provider.

Your Safe Place, located in downtown San Diego, offers free services to people who have or are experiencing domestic violence, family violence, elder abuse, sexual assault or sex trafficking — regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, income or immigration status.

Officials estimate that the center serves an average of 100 people per week. Services include shelter, counseling, clothing and legal advice. Last year, Your Safe Place received about 19,500 calls.

“All too often, we have seen traffickers bring women across the border for profit. We’ve seen women threatened with deportation or the destruction of their passports, because that is how traffickers and abusers keep power over their victims,” Elliot said. “This announcement today is in response to that reality.”

The five-year cooperation agreement was first signed in 2019 and was extended Wednesday with Ambassador Alicia Kerber as Mexico’s consul general, who took the post in February.

Kerber said that “circumstances and data forced us to update it with more specific actions and more in line with the new responsibilities that the Mexican Consulate has.”

Both entities will work together to identify ways to help Mexican victims, organize workshops, share information about resources and build collaborative networks to provide legal and social services, according to the agreement.

Survivors will also have access to additional assistance programs, such as the Ventanilla de Atención Integral a la Mujer, offered at Mexico’s 53 consulates in the United States, Kerber said.

For more information, people can visit SanDiego.Gov/YourSafePlace or call (619) 533-6000. Those interested can also contact the Mexican consulate in San Diego directly, either in person or at (619) 231-3847 or (619) 843-6399, as well as through social media. The Mexican consulate is at 1549 India St., San Diego.

Last month, the Mexican Consulate announced a partnership between the Baja California Justice Center for Women and One Safe Place, a similar center run by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. Under the agreement, both organizations will cross-refer crime victims and provide services on both sides of the border.

“That means that those victims of violence who move from San Diego to Tijuana, that they have ongoing support and that they know that they are not going to be alone, either here in San Diego or in Tijuana,” Kerber said.