Frontera NorteSur
October-December  2005

UN Official Speaks Out on Child Deportations

A United Nations official has renewed calls for safer and more humane deportation policies affecting undocumented children detained in the United States. In a recent Mexicali presentation, Karla Erendira Gallo, a representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said progress has been made toward guaranteeing the safety of minors deported to Mexico but more emphasis is needed on family reunification. Raising the issue of what happens to undocumented children who are deported from the United States while their parents remain in this country, the UNICEF representative urged the United States Border Patrol against separating minor children from their families.

Ererndira Gallo's presentation followed up on a joint report issued last month by UNICEF and Mexico's National System for Integral Family Development, commonly known as the DIF. Titled "Migrant Childhood on the Northern Border: Legislation and Processes", the study examined the treatment of undocumented children in 11 Mexican border cities : Mexicali, Tijuana, Ojinaga, Ciudad Juarez, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Nogales, Agua Prieta, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros.

The UNICEF-DIF report denounced that "undocumented child migration on the northern border encourages the systematic violation of human rights," allegedly prompting abuses like the mixing of minor with adult detainees. The report's authors contended that Mexico and the United States need to ensure that the treatment of minors with immigration law problems conforms to international standards and agreements. The study highlighted the exposure of undocumented children to human and contraband trafficking, sexual exploitation and labor abuses. Indigenous children constitute one especially vulnerable population on the border, according to the study.

Statistics gathered by Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM) and the Inter-institutional Program for Attention to Border Minors indicate that the deportation of children is significant. The number of unaccompanied deported minors from the United States increased from 5, 457 in 2003 to 10,000 in 2004. According to the INM, 4,131 minors have been deported so far this year just at the Mexican ports of entry in Baja California. From 1998 to 2003, the DIF handled 42,342 migrant children in its transient shelters. Teresa Aranda, the head of the DIF, calculated that about $200,000 dollars are spent every year on border DIF shelters but that $1,000,000 dollars is a realistic budget needed to adequately operate the services.

Yoriko Yasukawa, another UNICEF representative in Mexico, commented after the release of last month's report that "Mexican institutions are doing very valuable work" in helping undocumented minor children on the northern border. During the last 11 years, Mexican consulates in the United States have assisted at least 87, 757 unaccompanied minors. Yasukawa added that UNICEF is prepared to act as a mediator in "bilateral negotiations" between the United States and Mexico aimed at strengthening cross-border accords regulating the repatriation of minors.

Sources: La Jornada, September 13, September 14, October 21, 2005.
Articles by Alma E. Muñoz, Carolina Gomez Mena and Antonio Heras. 

High-Tech Mega-Development Showcased

First there was Silicon Valley . Then there were Silicon Mesa in New Mexico and Silicon South in Austin , Texas . If Daniel Hill has his way, the Baja California border city of Mexicali will be the high-tech world's next hotspot, Silicon Border. The director of the Silicon Border Development project, Hill unveiled his plans at the 32nd Convention of the National Council of the Maquiladora Export Industry, held in the old Pacific Coast tourist resort of Acapulco this past weekend.

Speaking before the captains of the Mexican maquiladora industry, Hill outlined his vision for a massive, Mexicali industrial park that's planned to attract 150 foreign firms and employ upwards of 100,000 people dedicated to manufacturing semi-conductors and other high-tech gadgets. The projected industrial site will cover more than 12,000 acres. According to Hill, the model for Silicon Border is the Hsin-Chiu development in Taiwan . He presented Silicon Border as North America's opportunity to shift some production away from Asian plants, which dominate the world's semi-conductor manufacturing.

"That's why we can't let a market get away that brings in $240 billion dollars and has the capacity to control the electronic and high-tech industries," Hill urged.

Hill said initial construction of the Mexicali industrial complex could begin as early as this year and be finished within the next two years. Launched in 2001 by National Semiconductor company veteran Hill and others, Silicon Border got a boost in the form of a grant from the federal Mexican and Baja California state government for developing the industrial park. Billed as the “ Science Park of the Americas ,” ground for the industrial park was broken last summer.

In his Acapulco speech, Hill credited Mexico and Baja California for possessing the basic elements to turn Mexicali into the next high-tech mecca. The high-tech business promoter pointed to the North American Free Trade Agreement and other international trade agreements signed by the Mexican government, ample labor, land, Colorado River water, and available electricity as the ingredients for a success. The industrial park is in close proximity to power plants operated by the Intergen and Sempra companies. For workforce development, the publicly-operated Autonomous University of Baja California and the privately-run Technological Institute of Monterrey will be drawn in to train employees, according to Hill.

Hill said the highest levels of the Mexican federal government are giving enthusiastic support to the Silicon Border development.

"President Vicente Fox has given all the facilities for the construction. He is a businessman and understands perfectly what we want to do," Hill said, adding that the Mexico 's federal budget and taxation ministry has agreed to give 10-year tax breaks to manufacturing companies setting up shop in Silicon Border.

Silicon Border has reportedly raised eyebrows in Guadalajara , the current center of Mexico 's small high-tech industry.

A strategic goal of the Mexicali project is to create a high-tech corridor between the industry's brain center in northern California and its future production facilities on the border. Hill said Intel, Phillips, Sharp, Samsung, and Sony are among companies interested in locating in Mexicali .

Sources: La Jornada, October 24 and October 30, 2005. Articles by Eduardo Martinez Cantero and Juliana Fregoso Bonilla. Electronics Weekly, July 22, 2005. Article by David Manners. San Diego Union-Tribune, July 14, 2005.

Article by Diane Lindquist. Electronic News, December 6, 2004. siborder.com