Note: Read this one first, from Proceso
Migrants who leave no trace ...
Patricia Davila
http://www.proceso.com.mx/rv/modHome/detalleExclusiva/90361
Before coming to hell migration to the northern border of Mexico,
hundreds of thousands of Central Americans crossing the country
subject to abuse of authority and violence of the kidnapping gangs
linked to drug cartels. "The news on TV say the government of Mexico
is already controlling the drug, then one thinks that the risk may
already decreased," says an illegal immigrant who fell into the hands
of the National Migration Institute.
MEXICO, DF., April 16 (Process) .- About 100,000 illegal migrants,
mostly from Central America, disappeared on its way through Mexico,
kidnapped, murdered, assaulted, trafficked and thrown from a moving
train. Relatives left in their home countries or who were waiting in
the U.S. are unlikely to determine with certainty what happened.
According to United Nations figures, each year 500 thousand migrants
Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans go through
Mexican territory to the United States. After the Mexicans
themselves, Hondurans are the largest group to try to get there.
The international organization Human Rights Watch issued a
report last January on the conditions faced by these people on their
way: "Many suffer serious abuses along the way, as physical and
sexual assault, extortion and theft. About 18,000 illegal immigrants
are kidnapped each year, often in order to obtain ransom payments
from relatives in America. "
Based on this figure, the other allegations, it is estimated that in
the four and a half years of this administration calderonista the
abductions and disappearances figure reaches about 100,000 victims.
He also mentioned that in August 2010 a group of 72 migrants was
kidnapped and executed by armed gangs in the state of Tamaulipas.
Among the bodies identified, 23 were Hondurans, 14 Guatemalans, 14
Salvadorans and a Brazilian.
The document states that the authorities have not taken
adequate measures to protect migrants and to investigate and
prosecute those who abuse them in a few cases the authorities
informing them of their right to seek asylum and often they
themselves discuss the abuse and assault:
"The National Migration Institute (INM) has laid off 350 staff since
2007-nearly 15% of their staff for alleged links to organized crime
and other crimes, including trafficking. In September 2010, a group
of immigration agents beat and robbed of 100 migrants who fell from a
train in Oaxaca. "
Extract from the report published in the 1798 edition of Proceso
magazine, already in circulation.
Note: TEXMEX, but still interesting trends, also looks like many
never live to make it to the U.S. border. Would be interesting to
see similar from AZMEX area. Also, how many homicides in that
"other" category?
Undocumented immigrant deaths hit lowest level in six years in Rio
Grande Valley
April 16, 2011 2:20 AM
Jared Taylor
The Monitor
http://www.themonitor.com/news/undocumented-49243-deaths-mcallen.html
Most common causes of immigrant deaths, 2004-2011:
>> Dehydration, 939
>> Drowning, 424
>> Vehicle accident, 185
>> Hypothermia, 69
>> Health complications, 60
>> Other/undetermined, 1,041
>> Total along U.S.-Mexico border, 2,718
Source: Mexican Secretary of External Relations
McALLEN — The number of Mexican and unidentified undocumented
immigrants who died while passing through the Rio Grande Valley has
dropped to its lowest level in six years.
But those who track immigration patterns say they cannot identify any
clear reasons why the deaths have dropped so low.
The Mexican consulate in McAllen recorded 20 deaths of undocumented
immigrants in 2010 — a more than 60 percent drop from the record high
seen in 2009.
The Brownsville office of the Mexican consulate also saw a drop —
seven deaths, down 36 percent from 2009. The Monitor obtained the
statistics through a public information request with the Mexican
Secretary of External Relations.
The deaths compare with only slight changes in the number of
apprehensions of illegal immigrants in roughly the same time span.
U.S. Border Patrol figures show 59,766 immigrants detained in the
2010 fiscal year — just a 2 percent drop from the same period a year
before.
Across the Rio Grande Valley sector — stretching from Starr County to
the Gulf of Mexico and north to near Corpus Christi — agents
responded to 28 immigrant deaths last year, a 61 percent drop.
Immigrant apprehensions have dropped in the Rio Grande Valley, down
55 percent since the 2005 fiscal year, which saw the highest total
since 2000.
The Mexican consulate in McAllen has recorded no illegal immigrant
deaths this year. One was recorded at the agency's Brownsville office.
José Manuel Gutierrez Minera, a spokesman at the Mexican consulate in
McAllen, said the improving economy in Mexico and slow job growth in
the U.S. may have contributed to the lower number of deaths. And the
push to build awareness of the dangers of crossing may have
contributed, he said.
But "the central point is we're not sure exactly of why, but we are
very content about it," Gutierrez said. "There's no reason exactly."
Among the Mexican consulate's 13 offices along the Southwest border
that track immigrant deaths, only two — in Del Rio and Tucson, Ariz.
— saw an increase last year. Tucson routinely records the most
deaths, but last year's 214 fatalities was the most in six years and
up 60 percent from 2009, the Mexican consulate figures show.
Overall, the six Mexican consulates in Texas recorded 69 deaths among
immigrants in 2010 — down 53 percent from the year before and the
least since 2004, the first year numbers were made available.
Border Patrol installed rescue beacons along commonly used immigrant
paths that follow utility lines in rural ranchlands across Brooks
County in 2009. The agency also has worked with the Mexican consulate
to step up its presence on Spanish-language television and radio
stations warning of the dangers of illegal crossings.
Those efforts may have pushed some people to second guess the
treacherous trek across the rough terrain of the monte, said
Rosalinda Huey, local Border Patrol spokeswoman. But to point
directly to that would be speculation, she said.
"That could be a reason, but I can't speculate and say that's why"
there were fewer deaths, Huey said.
VIOLENCE A FACTOR?
And while the numbers of migrants killed in the U.S. may have
dropped, stories of mass graves — many filled with migrants who
refused to join drug smugglers — has dominated media coverage in Mexico.
Two large so-called narcofosas have been uncovered on ranches near
San Fernando, Tamps., about 80 miles south of Brownsville.
Seventy-two migrants were found shot and buried on a ranch in August
2010. And the death toll has steadily climbed at another series of
graves first exposed April 6. As of Friday, 145 bodies had been
recovered from those.
Whether that has contributed to the drop in dead immigrants found in
the Rio Grande Valley remains to be seen.
Juanita Valdez-Cox, executive director of San Juan-based immigrant
advocate La Union del Pueblo Entero, said she has heard more
testimonials of Mexicans immigrating without documents to escape the
violence.
Also possible, she reckoned, is fewer Central American immigrants
unwilling to cross through Mexico after hearing widespread stories of
kidnapping and abuse.
"You hear about all the violence in Mexico and the killings of
immigrants," Valdez-Cox said. "Maybe they are not coming because of
that, too, that they're afraid that once they get into Mexico from
further south that they couldn't get across from all the violence.
"If they want to cross, it's more expensive and they hear it's more
dangerous. But they can still get across."
Jared Taylor covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor.
You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.
Two dead bodies found in Santa Cruz County
Published Friday, April 15, 2011 10:50 AM CDT
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2011/04/15/news/
doc4da867043e618387810471.txt
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office is investigating the deaths of
two suspected undocumented immigrants.
On April 13 at approximately 11:52 a.m., deputies responded to a call
from the 700 block of Camino Agua Fria in Rio Rico. Lt. Raoul
Rodriguez said a homeowner there had noticed his dogs playing with a
human skull.
"Deputies canvassed the area and collected additional bones. However,
these remains could not be immediately identified as human,"
Rodriguez said, adding: "Due to the location it is believed the
decedent was an illegal entrant."
Two days earlier, on April 11, the Sheriff's Office received a call
at approximately 5:28 p.m. from the Border Patrol Nogales Station
after agents discovered human remains in the Washington Camp area.
The agents told investigators that they located a partially
decomposed body in a canyon, two miles south of State Route 82.
"The body also had signs of wildlife activity," Rodriguez said. "The
decedent appeared to be a male and in his possession was a Mexican
birth certificate and a school identification card from Nogales,
Sonora."
He said the man was identified as Jesus Hernandez-Estrada, 37, from
Nogales, Sonora.
The remains were sent to the Office of Medical Examiner's in Tucson
to determine a possible cause of death.
According to records kept by the Sheriff's Office, the latest two
discoveries mark the seventh and eighth suspected illegal immigrant
deaths this year in Santa Cruz County.
Note: This one about legal immigration. The general is pretty much
on target, and for sure that immigrant soldiers should be recognized
and get citizenship. Back in my day it was the Lodge Act.
Retired general takes up cause of immigrant soldiers
April 15, 2011 10:19 PM
By JACQUELINE ARMENDARIZ, Brownsville Herald
A retired two-star general says he has taken up an important cause —
helping U.S. soldiers who are in the country with green cards to
proceed on the path to citizenship.
Ret. Maj. Gen. Freddie Valenzuela spoke Friday at the University of
Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College and signed copies of
a new book he wrote with his family, "No Greater Love: The Lives and
Times of Hispanic Soldiers."
Valenzuela, from San Antonio, served 33 years in the military and
during his career became one of the youngest two-star generals and
one of the nation's highest-ranking Hispanic military officers, he said.
On Friday, he told how the way Hispanics are classified in the
military has changed over the years, a fact he said is reflected in
certain statistics.
"We have more heroes proportionally than any other ethnicity group,"
he said. "We've also had the most killed and the most wounded."
He continued: "When I came into the Army, the guy said, 'You're an
other.' So, for 10 years I was an 'other.' The next 10 years ... the
guy said, 'Hey, sir, you're not an other, you're white.' I said, 'OK,
I'm white.' ... The third 10 years, the guy said, 'You're not white
and you're not an other, you're brown.'"
Now retired, he said he works to serve in the community. He founded
an educational foundation for at-risk children and a foundation for
the families of soldiers killed in the line of duty.
Proceeds from the sale of his book will go to the families of the 21
soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars whose burials he
witnessed. He said in 2003 then-President George W. Bush mandated
that a general attend the funeral of each soldier killed.
Friday he also gave advice to the young members of the ROTC in the
audience. As a youth, he said, he was a "knucklehead," but he always
knew he wanted to enlist. Today, he said he would encourage others to
serve in the military but said education was of the utmost importance.
He said those who don't pursue an education won't end up with much.
"Education is the No. 1 variable," he said.
He spoke briefly of the DREAM Act, a piece of failed federal
legislation that would have allowed undocumented immigrant minors a
conditional path to citizenship if they earned a college degree or
served in the military.
"I really don't have an opinion on the DREAM Act," he said. "But I'll
tell you ... I think we've allowed this to go too far and it's time
to come up with a solution."
He said many citizens seemed to have voted with the idea that
immigration reform would happen. But he said, it seems like federal
legislators thought the business of reform might fade away amid other
pressing issues facing the country.
He also spoke Friday at an immigration reform round-table discussion
on campus.
His visit to the campus was sponsored by the ROTC program at UTB-TSC.
Migrantes: los que ni huella dejan…
Patricia Dávila
http://www.proceso.com.mx/rv/modHome/detalleExclusiva/90361
Antes de llegar al infierno migratorio de la frontera norte de
México, cientos de miles de centroamericanos cruzan el país sometidos
al abuso de las autoridades y a la violencia de las bandas de
secuestradores ligadas a los cárteles del narcotráfico. "Las noticias
en la tele dicen que el gobierno de México ya está controlando al
narco, entonces uno piensa que el riesgo tal vez ya disminuyó", dice
una indocumentada que cayó en manos del Instituto Nacional de Migración.
MÉXICO, DF., 16 de abril (Proceso).- Cerca de 100 mil migrantes
indocumentados, sobre todo de origen centroamericano, desaparecieron
a su paso por México, secuestrados, asesinados, asaltados, víctimas
de trata y arrojados desde trenes en marcha. Los familiares que
dejaron en sus países de origen o quienes los esperaban en Estados
Unidos tienen pocas probabilidades de averiguar con certeza qué les
sucedió.
De acuerdo con cifras de las Naciones Unidas, cada año 500 mil
migrantes guatemaltecos, salvadoreños, hondureños y nicaragüenses
atraviesan territorio mexicano hacia Estados Unidos. Después de los
propios mexicanos, los hondureños constituyen el grupo más grande que
intenta llegar allá.
La organización internacional Human Rights Watch emitió en
enero pasado un informe sobre las condiciones que enfrentan estas
personas en su trayecto: "Muchos sufren graves abusos durante el
camino, como agresiones físicas y sexuales, extorsión y robo. Cerca
de 18 mil indocumentados son secuestrados cada año, en muchos casos
con el objeto de obtener pagos extorsivos de sus familiares en
Estados Unidos".
Con base en esta cifra, más otras denuncias, se calcula que en los
cuatro años y medio del sexenio calderonista la cifra de secuestros y
desapariciones alcanza alrededor de 100 mil víctimas.
Menciona también que en agosto de 2010 un grupo de 72 migrantes fue
secuestrado y ejecutado por pandillas armadas en el estado de
Tamaulipas. Entre los cadáveres identificados, 23 eran hondureños, 14
guatemaltecos, 14 salvadoreños y un brasileño.
El documento establece que las autoridades no han tomado
medidas adecuadas para proteger a los migrantes ni para investigar y
juzgar a quienes cometen abusos contra ellos; en muy pocos los casos
las autoridades les informan sobre su derecho a pedir asilo y con
frecuencia ellas mismas comenten los abusos y agresiones:
"El Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) ha despedido a 350
funcionarios desde 2007 –casi 15% de su personal– por presuntos
vínculos con el crimen organizado y otros delitos, como la trata de
personas. En septiembre de 2010, un grupo de agentes de inmigración
golpeó y robó a 100 migrantes que descendieron de un tren en Oaxaca".
Extracto del reportaje que se publica en la edición 1798 de la
revista Proceso, ya en circulación.
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