Iván Evair Saldaña
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, December 12, 2025, p. 15
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) will not be able to deny women taking a photograph for the Mexican passport wearing hijab and other religious clothing, as long as the face is completely visible, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) determined yesterday.
By eight votes to one, the plenary session endorsed the projects of the Minister President, Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, and Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, who agreed that the Passport Regulations of the Foreign Ministry must guarantee the right to religious freedom and non-discrimination.
The case came to the Court when two protections of Muslim women against article 14, section IV of the regulations were reviewed, after they were denied passports in foreign ministry offices in Chihuahua and Mexico City for refusing, for religious reasons, to remove their hijab for photography.
Historic opportunity to protect rights
“It is a historic opportunity for this high court to protect the rights of women to decide what essentially belongs to us, to have sufficient freedom to choose to profess a religion or not to have a religion, to have the freedom to live according to the dictates of our conscience and religion,” said Esquivel Mossa.
Minister Lenia Batres voted against, stating that the rule responds to legitimate security and identification purposes and that “no one can claim religious reasons to evade the responsibilities and obligations prescribed in the laws.”
He questioned Esquivel Mossa’s proposal for privileging religious practices over security obligations, based on “arguments that I consider, with all due respect, tend toward demagoguery,” and warned of the risks of opening exceptions based on beliefs, emphasizing the separation of Church and State.
“If the practice of declaring constitutional norms that conflict with the preservation of national security and public order of the nation begins, it would go to extremes of allowing polygamy before the civil registry, animal sacrifices for Santeria practices, the subjection of girls and boys to religious practices, genital mutilation that some religions currently provide for, the prohibition of blood transfusions, among other examples that today are not compatible with public order,” he noted.
Minister President Aguilar Ortiz proposed invalidating the phrase “bare head,” but adjusted his project before the majority, which considered it a general and neutral norm. Minister Loretta Ortiz warned that eliminating it could generate uncertainty and affect the reliability of the Mexican passport.
In both rulings, the high court determined that the security and identification purposes of the regulation can be reconciled with religious freedom. Therefore, although the bare-headed photo rule is maintained, it must be applied flexibly: exceptionally, if the person proves that they wear a religious garment that does not obstruct their identification, they can wear it in their passport photograph.
