Overview
- The Vigésimo Tribunal Colegiado in Mexico City ruled Wednesday that requiring ID or immigration papers to buy or board a bus violates the constitution.
- The decision in amparo 686/2025 came after IMUMI and the UNAM human rights clinic challenged National Migration Institute directives issued from 2019 to 2021.
- Judges said bus companies have no legal authority to act as migration agents and that transporting migrants on regular routes is not the crime of human trafficking.
- The court ordered the National Migration Institute to run a public campaign stating tickets can be sold without ID and to carry out inspections at bus terminals to verify compliance.
- Rights groups said the old rules pushed people into informal, riskier transport controlled by criminals, so the change could return many travelers to safer commercial buses.