The Mexican Senate has approved a new law aimed at streamlining bureaucratic procedures through digitalization—legislation that also seeks to aid in the fight against disappearances in Mexico.
The National Law to Eliminate Bureaucratic Procedures includes the creation of a centralized digital identity platform, the Plataforma Única de Identidad, designed to consolidate official documentation.
A key feature of the law is the introduction of a biometric version of the CURP (national identity number), transforming it into an identification document similar to the INE voter card, complete with a photograph and fingerprints.
The legislation also allows citizens to create a personal account on the federal government’s recently launched Llave MX portal, enabling them to carry out procedures online, and process official documents more easily.
In addition, the initiative seeks to combat disappearances by linking digital databases with national missing persons registries. President Claudia Sheinbaum presented these legislative reforms in late March, in part as a response to the discovery earlier that month of an organized crime training center in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, where clothing and objects belonging to hundreds of missing persons were found.
The reforms also mandate real-time reporting and the establishment of alert systems for missing persons, as well as publishing accurate figures on disappearances, and creating specialized prosecution units.
The law passed the Senate with 75 votes in favor and 37 against but has drawn criticism regarding technological readiness, privacy protections and lack of oversight. Opponents argue that Mexico lacks the necessary infrastructure for such an ambitious digital overhaul—particularly in regions where internet access is limited and electricity is unreliable.
PAN legislator Laura Esquivel Torres warned that the law grants excessive power to the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency (Agencia de Transformación Digital y Telecomunicaciones, or ATDT)—the government body tasked with setting up and managing the Single Identity Platform—calling it a potential “Big Brother” over citizens’ personal data.
Created in November 2024, the ATDT is responsible for promoting digital transformation and expanding telecommunications infrastructure nationwide. Its mandate includes shaping policies related to technology, broadband and telecom services.
PAN Senator Ricardo Anaya, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2018, accused the government of using the crisis of disappearances to justify the mandatory implementation of the biometric CURP. “What you are doing is creating a tool for mass surveillance,” he said.
Critics fear the federal government could use the new digital database for spying, tracking, or persecuting individuals.
In a recent article, La Jornada claimed the Single Identity Platform is likely to contain additional data on citizens’ tax, banking, healthcare, telecommunications, education, employment, and social security records.
Guadalajara-based journalist Rubén Martín, in a recent opinion piece for El Informador, noted: “According to representatives from the ruling party, this information will be protected and cannot be disclosed without a legal order. It sounds great, but we already know how official information is used in Mexico—just look at the case of the electoral roll, which could be purchased at a flea market in Mexico City.”