Frontera NorteSur Apr- Jun 2008

Adios, Michoacan

In the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacan, the historic migration of entire communities continues to define the landscape. And increasingly, the feet on the move belong to women. In a report to State Migrant Secretary Alma Griselda Valencia Medina, three state legislators from the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution ran down the latest migration trends. Of 100 migrants, 36 are women, according to the local congressional group, which consisted of state legislators Antonio Garcia Conejo, Gustavo Avila Vazquez and Sergio Solis Suarez. All three men serve on the Michoacan State Legislature’s Migrant Affairs Commission.

According to the legislators, the number of women entering the migrant stream is a steady increase from seven years ago when only one in five migrants was a woman.
Sixty eight percent of the women from Michoacan who relocate to the United States are married and intend to rejoin their spouses, they said. The legislators expressed concerns to Secretary Valencia that the traditionally agricultural state is being depopulated, with the overall population decreasing by 400,000 people in the last six years. Their report identified 87 of Michoacan’s 113 municipalities as the areas most impacted by migration. In addition to the United States, a growing number of migrants are moving to cities in Mexico outside Michoacan.

The Bajio, Tierra Caliente and Costa areas of Michoacan were identified as the zones  experiencing the greatest migration pressures. It was not immediately clear from the report if other motives apart from economic ones are compelling people to leave their homes. The Tierra Caliente and Costa regions, in particular, have been hit hard during the past few years by violence related to Michoacan’s deeply-entrenched illegal drug economy. Residents from other areas of Mexico afflicted with similar levels of narco-violence, such as Tijuana or Ciudad Juarez, sometimes cite insecurity as the primary reason for abandoning their hometowns.

Source: La Jornada, April 25, 2008. Article by Ernesto Martinez Elorriaga.

Capitol Hill Sparks Fly Over Guestworkers

With thousands of foreign workers granted H2-B visas to work legally in the US hospitality and other industries every year, debate over the future of the guestworker program is growing. For instance, employers in resort communities argue they cannot find enough willing local workers to fill available jobs and must resort to contracting foreigners. Opponents of the H2-B system, meanwhile, contend it is depriving US citizens of employment opportunities while creating a sub-class of easily exploitable workers.

Divisions over the H2-B program were evident when a House judiciary subcommittee chaired by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca.) gathered testimony on Capitol Hill last week. On the pro side of the debate, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) urged Congress to expand the number of H2-B visas in order to meet vital economic demand. AILA President Kathleen Campbell Walker said adding more visas to the pool was a "no brainer."

In a statement, Walker's group said the US Citizenship and Immigration Services should approve visa petitions on file for the second half of 2008 in order to fulfill the Congressionally-mandated cap.  In a message dubbed "Save Our Summer," the AILA said the restaurant, hotel, landscaping, construction and seafood industries could be among economic sectors damaged by the failure to approve enough H2-B guestworkers. The lawyers’ group also said approving H2-B visas would contribute to assuring legality in the immigrant workforce. Walker praised Congress' review of the H2-B issue.

"The subcommittee is working to connect the dots between valid labor needs and our immigration laws," Walker said.
 
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning, Washington-based think tank, presented a starkly different view of the H2-B program. Testifying before Lofgren's subcommittee, EPI Vice-President Ross Eisenbrey said his organization's researchers found no evidence of labor shortages in sectors of the economy employing H2-B workers. Despite the absence of economic necessity, the program grew from 10,000 workers in FY 1993 to 130,000 in FY 2007, Eisenbrey said. Besides undermining US workers and their working conditions, Eisenbrey maintained that the guestworker system is creating "dependencies among businesses for docile foreign workers with no voice, no bargaining power and few rights.."

Noting that the US is falling into recession and rising unemployment, the EPI called for cutting back or eliminating the H2-B program altogether. The research organization proposed reforms to include better publicizing of job opportunities for US workers; assuring that prevailing wages remain the industry standard; allowing H2-B guestworkers to join unions and have collective bargaining power, and strengthening the legal language in guestworker contracts.  In addition to the H2-B program, Congress is expected to hold other hearings on immigration-related matters in the coming weeks.

-Kent Paterson  

Latin American Migrants in the New Promised Lands

In a rapidly changing world economic environment,  many countries increasingly  compete with the United States for the labor of Latin American immigrants. Lured by economic growth outside the global North, Latin American workers are heading for neighboring countries, Europe, Canada and even the Middle East.

Located in South America’s Southern Cone, the nation of Chile, which once expelled hundreds of thousands of people due to political and economic reasons, is now becoming a  destination for other migrants. From 1999 to 2008, the number of foreign residents of Chile almost tripled to an estimated 290,000 people.

“This change merits attention,” said Andrea Cerda, a researcher with Chile’s Diego Portales University. “Since Chile could become a receptor county,  it has to focus its social policies to see how to receive this new population group.”

Although Argentinians long accounted for most new immigrants, Bolivians and especially Peruvians are making up ever greater numbers of new residents. As many as 100,000 Peruvians now reside in Chile, according to the Peruvian Consulate. Bolivian and Peruvian workers are currently in demand by Chilean agriculture, and Peruvian restaurants are the rave among Chilean diners. Other nationalities represented in Chile’s new social landscape include Colombians, Ecuadorans, Cubans and Mexicans.
Granted by  the administration of President Michele Bachelet, an amnesty benefited  50,000 undocumented immigrants.

Besides Chile, Brazil and Costa Rica are also magnets for immigrants of Latin American and other descent. A small Central American nation that has registered growth in the high technology and tourism sectors in recent years, Costa Rica is contracting Nicaraguans for jobs such as  bus drivers. In Brazil, professional workers are being sought for the entertainment and oil industries, while unskilled workers,  including many Bolivians who reportedly labor under adverse conditions, are forming a new, low-paid urban working-class.  The Ministry of Labor of Brazil authorized almost 30,000 temporary and permanent work permits for foreigners in 2007. Last year’s number of  legal permits was a  46.2 percent increase over the total given in 2004.

Outside Latin America, Canada, a country whose dollar has gained strength vis-a-vis the US currency, continues to draw many different nationalities; an estimated 200,000 undocumented immigrants could be living in the country.   In late 2007, the Canadian and Mexican governments decided to expand a guestworker program to encompass the tourism, construction and financial services sectors.

Under the accord, a three-year pilot program will be launched to grant 6-10 month contracts to 100 Mexican workers in each of the new categories. The expanded guestworker program builds on an existing system of temporary agricultural labor that provides Canada with 18,000 Mexican farmworkers every year, mainly for farms in
Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.  

A hot new global tourist destination, the Middle Eastern nation of Dubai is also on the prowl for Mexican workers. In early April, Emirates Airlines and Group announced it would interview candidates in Mexico for new job openings in the tourism sector. “Mexicans are nice, friendly, work as a team, speak fluent English, work well, and know how to treat tourists from all over the world,” said Rick Helliwell, vice-president of recruitment and human resources for Emirates Airlines. At least 23 Mexicans currently work as pilots and three others as cargo handlers for the airline company. The annual number of tourist visits to Dubai by air is expected to grow from 40 millon in 2008 to 75 million by 2015.

In a familiar pattern, many Latin American migrants plan on working abroad for a relatively short period of time before returning home to purchase properties and open new businesses. This was the story of  Natalia Vigneri and Eduardo Collins. Finding their long hours and hard work in the Uruguayan tourism industry wasn’t  paying off, the couple decided to try their luck in Europe. Six years later, the one-time Uruguayan emigrants  returned home with savings. The money was enough to buy a ranch in the trendy resort of Punta de Diablo.

“We were able to do this with the savings that we brought here,” said Vigneri. “The idea is to remain living in our country and educate our son Maximo, who is two years old. He can  return to Europe if he want to, but to have a good time and to get to know it.”
Meanwhile, many other Uruguayans are following in the footsteps of Vigneri and Collins. Confirming an increasing trend since 2004, statistics from the country’s National Migration Department reported 16,603 Uruguayans left the country in 2007.  

Sources: Tribuna de la Bahia/Agencia Reforma, April 4, 2008. Article by Lilian Cruz.
El Universal, December 29, 2007; March 23, 2008. Articles by Natalia Gomez Quintero, Cesar Bianchi and the El Pais (Uruguay) newspaper. El Diario de Juarez,  January 20, 2008.

Mexican Commission Probes Treatment of Guatemalan Guestworkers

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has opened an investigation into the treatment of thousands of Guatemalan guestworkers contracted to work on coffee farms in southern Mexico. The probe was launched after media reports and observations by the CNDH's own personnel pointed to bad working conditions and the use of child labor in the state of Chiapas.  According to the CNDH, abuses in the coffee industry could include crimes of "human trafficking and virtual slavery." In 2007, the Mexican government's National Migration Institute authorized temporary work permits for 70,000 Guatemalan guestworkers.

Reports of oppressive working conditions in the southern Mexican coffee harvest are nothing new. Since 2003, the Casa del Migrante of Tecun Uman has complained that Guatemalan workers are forced to eat rotten food and sleep in places infested with fleas, cockroaches and other insects. The CNDH's preliminary investigation of the situation confronting guestworkers found evidence of inappropriate housing, bad food and the retention of immigration documents by some employers.

Whether the CNDH's intervention makes any difference in the lot of Guatemalana guestworkers is another question. In recent days, renewed polemics over the effectiveness of the CNDH have flown about the Mexican press. Established during the adminstration of former President Carlos de Salinas de Gortari, the CNDH has no power to enforce recommendations it makes on a host of different to various authorities.

In Mexico, controversy surrounding the CNDH's role has been rekndled by a February 13 Human Rights Watch report that was critical of the official human rights agency's record. The New York-based organization contended that the commission neglects to follow up on its own recommendations, fails to pressure the state to fix abuses and does not challenge "abusive laws and practices."

Sources: La Jornada, February 25 and 26, 2008. Articles by Luis Hernandez Navarro and editorial staff.       

Border Sheriff Says No to Immigration Checks

According to El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca, the use of checkpoints to check the immigration status of motorists is not an appropriate activity for his department. In an interview with El Diario de El Paso newspaper, Sheriff Apodaca reacted to reports that members of his department were requesting immigration documentation from people halted at checkpoints. The Texas law enforcement official urged residents who encountered such treatment to contact his office.

"People should not fear being deported by us," he said. "Any complaint from the citizenry will be taken into account so measures can be taken against officials who don't comply with the law."

Sheriff Apodaca's comments followed complaints that drivers stopped at checkpoints in the El Paso County community of Westway were asked by officers for Social Security numbers and proof of legal permission to be in the United States.  A local parish priest, Pablo Mata, told El Diario that dozens of Westway residents were asked for the documentation in recent weeks. 

The involvement of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in enforcing immigration laws became a hotly-debated issue under former Sheriff Leo Samaniego, who died late last year. As in other regions of the country where local police forces have begun checking immigration status, El Paso human rights advocates contended that the use of Sheriff's deputies in enforcing federal laws amounted to racial profiling as well jeopardizing public safety by making people fearful of contact with law enforcement officers.

"We spoke with (late) Sheriff Leo Samaniego last year to denounce the checks and stop them," said Mata. "Now we’re back to the same situation."

In El Paso, the issue of local peace officers acting as immigration agents is a hot political topic in 2008. A community activist organization, Border Inter-Faith, has planned a February 12 forum with all 11 candidates for Sheriff; the hopefuls will be asked their positions on the local policing/immigration law controversy.

Current Sheriff Apodaca insisted that mobile checkpoints are legal, but that department operations should be confined to asking drivers for their licenses, vehicle registrations and proof of insurance. A driver not carrying such documentation should be subject only to a "traffic violation," he added.

Sources: El Diario de El Paso, February 10 and 11, 2008. Articles by Lorena Figueroa. El Paso Times, December 29, 2007. Article by Ramon Bracamontes.    

California Official Reignites International Polemic 

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich reignited debate this month about the costs and contributions of illegal immigration to the United States. The California politician recently contended that undocumented immigrants cost Los Angeles County tax-payers about one billion dollars every year, not including expenses for education. "This new information shows an alarming increase in the devastating impact that illegal immigration continues having on the tax-payers of Los Angeles County," Antonovich said.

According to Antonovich, Los Angeles County annually spends on undocumented immigrants $220 million for law enforcement, $400 million for healthcare and $444 million for public assistance. Government spending on undocumented immigrants should be a major issue among the US presidential candidates, Antonovich added.

Immigrant rights activists challenged Antonovich's numbers.  "His statistics are bad. Undocumented immigrants don't even have access to many services and every year California receives four billion dollars from immigrants, whether they are documented or not," said Angelica Salas, director of the Los Angeles Coalition for Immigrant Human Rights. "(Antonovich) forgets the big detail that millions of undocumented immigrants pay sales taxes and in this way they contribute to the economy."
 
A 2006 study by the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative reported that immigrants pay $4.5 billion in state taxes each year. A separate, recent report from the Immigration Policy Center asserted that 50-75 percent of undocumented immigrants pay federal, state, social security and healthcare taxes; the US Internal Revenue Service has reported the existence of a $7 billion fund traced to invalid or questionable social security numbers. Contributions from undocumented workers are suspected to be the origin of a lot of the mysterious money. In another study, the Mexican Consulate in Arizona calculated that while an estimated 500,000 Mexican migrants in the state earn only 8 percent of the state's payroll, they account for 13.4 percent of local purchasing power, or $27.6 billion.

Los Angeles' Mexican Consulate quickly joined the verbal fray over Antonovich's numbers. In a statement, the Consulate's press office questioned the Los Angeles official's statistics. "No fair and objective evaluation exists in the United States about the contribution Mexican immigrants make to the economy by means of consumption, tax payments and contributions to social security." the Consulate said. "If it is estimated that 10 percent of the monthly salary is destined to remittances, then nine times this quantity stays here to pay for services and the consumption of goods."

The Consulate's involvement in the Antonovich controversy is one notable example of how Mexico's diplomatic corps is becoming more vocal about issues that involve Mexican migrants. Last year, Mexican President Felipe Calderon instructed Mexican consulates and embassies in the US and Canada to speak out about the migrant issue.

Another flashpoint in the growing international war of words is in Arizona, where a new state law, the Fair and Legal and Employment Act, contains tough penalties for businesses employing undocumented workers. The Mexican government is increasingly concerned about the possible social and economic impacts of more than 200,000 jobless Mexicans who might be forced to suddenly return home from Arizona. 

In a Mexico City meeting last week, officials from Mexico's Foreign Relations Ministry and representatives of the country's three largest political parties agreed to coordinate efforts on behalf of their country's migrants. According to Senator Silvano Aureoles Conejo, Mexican senators agreed to send a letter to Arizona state legislators that expresses concerns over "xenophobic attitudes" against Mexican migrants in the Southwestern state.

Another senator who attended the Mexico City meeting, Ricardo Garcia Cervantes, president of the North American foreign relations commission, vowed that officials will take a more active role in the defense of migrants.  "We are going to begin working on new ways of promoting consular action, documenting violations and informing and assisting Mexicans that live in the United States," he said. "This is a priority function and we all assume it."

Sources: El Diario de Juarez/Notimex, January 15, 2008. La Jornada, January 10, 2008. Article by  Elizabeth Velasco C. and news agencies. Univision, January 8, 2008. El Universal, December 19, 2007. Article by Gabriela Gutierrez M.

Migrant Deaths Up in 2007

Documented deaths of migrants in southern Arizona’s so-called “Corridor of Death” rose sharply in 2007. Official statistics from the US Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector report 204 migrant deaths during the 2007 fiscal year that ended on September 30 of last year. The death toll represented a 21 percent increase from fiscal year 2006, when 165 deaths were registered.

Sean King, Border Patrol spokesman, attributed the increase in fatalities to the deployment of more Border Patrol agents in the field. King said that with more officers in the field, more migrant bodies which might have gone undetected in the past were recovered.

But Kat Rodriguez, an organizer for the Tucson-based Human Rights Coalition, a non-governmental organization, blamed the additional deaths on tighter US border security measures that encouraged undocumented migrants to undertake risky journeys.

“These deaths are a direct consequence of the militarization of the US border,” Rodriguez charged. “So many agents, so much technology is simply forcing undocumented (migrants) to cross through more isolated and dangerous places. We are currently seeing a change of the migration flow towards the desert of New Mexico.”

In 2007, the US federal government increased the manpower of the US Border Patrol by 3,000 agents. Washington also expanded border walls in the Yuma, Nogales and Douglas regions, and installed large towers in the region.

Based on reports from medical examiners in the southern Arizona counties of Yuma, Pima and Cochise, the Human Rights Coalition reports a higher death toll for the region than does the Border Patrol. The immigrant rights group cited 237 deaths for FY 2007, a number 32 higher than in FY 2006, when the coalition documented 205 deaths.
In addition to documented deaths, disappearances are a growing problem, Rodriguez added. “It is frustrating to receive the calls of so many people, who only know that their family members crossed through the
Arizona desert and then never heard anything more of them,” she said. According to the US Border Patrol, 437 undocumented migrants died in the entire US-Mexico border region during FY 2007.

Source: Frontera/SUN, December 31, 2007.

Holiday Welcomes and Woes Greet Migrants

In the United States. the mass media frequently reports on holiday flight delays and other nightmares facing millions of air travelers. In northern Mexico, where automobiles and buses are preferred means of transportation, travelers, including many US residents of Mexican origin, also confront numerous troubles in their annual migrations to spend the holidays withloved ones.

In a gesture to reassure the season’s travelers, Mexican President Felipe Calderon personally welcomed drivers passing through the Tijuana Port of Entry on December 17. Members of Calderon’s National Action Party planned to fan out December 18, the International Day of the Migrant,  to bordercrossings in Tijuana, Tecate and Mexicali  with pamphlets in hand containing maps and other useful information for visitors traveling southof the border.

Mexican federal and local legislators also got into the act, organizing inspections of  border crossings from Tijuana and Matamoros as well as visits to airports in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.  The high-profile, politically-powered welcomes were organized in conjunction with the federal government’s annual Paisano Program, a multi-agency effort aimed at assisting the large number of holiday travelers visiting Mexico.  Launched in November, this year’s program runs until next month.

“We aspire to have zero complaints, zero denunciations this year,” said Institutional Revolutionary Party Congressman Edmundo Ramirez Martinez, who serves as the secretary for the border and migrant affairs commission of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. “Nonetheless, the full weight of the law will fall on public servants who are detected committing crimes or acts of corruption or extortion against our countrymen.”

Despite all the official attention focused on aiding returning migrants, a variety of  problems including unsafe transportation, corrupt government officials and even highwaymen still manage to ruin the holiday season for some.  In Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, workers at the city’s main bus station recently denounced to El Diario newspaper that holiday travelers, especially people coming from the US, were being shaken down for minimum amounts of $100 by federal customs personnel and tax inspectors. Advised of the reports, the chief of Mexican customs in Ciudad Juarez, Jose Marquez Padilla, said his agency would not stand for abuses by its agents.

“We aren’t going to tolerate the attitude of any person that could result in damages to the image of the Paisano Program,” Marquez vowed.

In December, Ciudad Juarez’s main bus station is a prime plucking ground for corrupt agents. Ricardo Peralta Gonzalez, bus station manager, estimated that 100,000 people depart the bus station for the Mexican interior during the peak travel days. Travel demand is so intense, Peralta added, that dozens of extra bus runs are scheduled.

A  calamity of a different sort befell bus passengers who were traveling from Ciudad Juarez to Torreon, Coahuila last week. A so-called pirate bus operated by Gamez Tours of Ciudad Juarez crashed on the inter-state highway in southern Chihuahua state on December 13. The early morning wreck left  35 passengers injured, including six people who were initially reported in grave condition.  The first reports indicated that speed was a factor in the accident. Like other similar incidents, the bus driver fled the scene of the crash.

“Thank God, we made it out alive,” said passenger Gerardo Iracheta. “I am going to Torreon for the burial of my brother, who was just murdered.  It seemed like they wanted to take me with him.”

In Ciudad Juarez alone, an estimated 25 pirate lines operate on the margins of the law.  Employing buses manufactured between 1970 and 1990, the  companies offer cut-rate fares in comparison with the more established companies like Omnibus de Mexico. Passengers on the fated Gamez bus, for example, paid about $15 for the trip to Torreron, a fare much cheaper than Omnibus’ price of about $45.

Despite the reportedly unsound mechanical conditions of many pirate buses, many border residents find the low-expense rides a realistic economic alternative. “I think people take these buses because it is much cheaper for them,” said Vicente Sanchez,  a customer of a pirate bus line. “It’s true that they are more unsafe, but when it is time for one to go it is time for one to go.”

Pirate buses are especially popular during vacation periods, when large numbers of Ciudad Juarez residents take to the roads. The routes of   the pirate lines-Coahuila, Zacatecas, Durango, Verarcruz, and Chiapas-reflect the origins of the in-country migrants who inhabit the border city of an estimated 1.4 million people. Rodolfo Rubio, an author of a book on Ciudad Juarez’s population, estimated that 46-48 percent of the city’s population was born elsewhere.

Salvador Parra Mora, general manager for the Foatscrm, a transportation and tourism trade industry association, said upwards of 40,000 peopleutilize the long distance pirate buses in Ciudad Juarez this time of year.

While many residents escape Ciudad Juarez for the holidays, others arrive to visit relatives or stop for rest and re-supply on their way south. Holiday travel is an economic boon for local hotels and other businesses that lose out in the cross-border, pre-holiday shopping spending that drives the commercial economy of  neighboring El Paso, Texas. A similar phenomenon is evident in other Mexico-US border cities.

Estimates vary of the total number of “paisanos” who return to Mexico from the US during this season.  National Migration Institute Commissioner Cecilia Romero predicted more than 1.2 million people will cross the US-Mexico border headed south this season. Of this number, about 100,000 will enter at Ciudad Juarez, Romero said.  Hector Valles Alvelais, Chihuahua state secretary for commercial and tourist development, said at least 350,000 migrants will touch Chihuahua’s soil for the holidays. According to Valles, many will visit the Sierra, Cuahtemoc and Delicias regions.

A story  in the Mexico City daily El Universal reported that 1.8 million people will enter Mexico from the United States during the holiday season.
The travelers are expected to bring with them an estimated $5 billion in cash, gifts and other merchandise.

Sources:  El Universal/Notimex, December 18, 2007. Univision, December 17, 2007. Frontera, December 17, 2007. Article by Manuel Villegas. Frontenet.com, December 13 and 17, 2007. El Diario de Juarez, November 18, 2007; December 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 2007.  Articles by Juan de Dios Olivasand editorial staff.

Migrant Network Calls for Greater Protections

Meeting in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo this week, providers of migrant emergency services called on Mexican and US authorities to show greater respect for the human rights of migrants. The meeting brought together representatives of 14 Roman Catholic Church-supported Casas del Migrante, or migrant houses, located in northern Mexico.Strung along the migrant trail, the houses are established as a refuge for migrants deported from the United States or experiencing other crises.

Francisco Pellizari, director of Nuevo Laredo's Casa del Migrante, said the church-supported institutions help many migrants who've been robbed, kidnapped, beaten and humiliated. Although Pellizari described the shelters as sanctuaries,  he said his co-workers confront attempts by unscrupulous individuals to victimize migrants. "Like the one in Nuevo Laredo, Casas del Migrante are constantly accosted by human traffickers who try to take advantage of the migrants," Pellizari said. Attending the Nuevo Laredo gathering, Coahuila Bishop Raul Vera recounted how he'd personally witnessed violence against migrants in his city of Saltillo. "I have seen the deaths of at least three migrants, as well as the abuses and affronts they suffer in this city," Bishop Vera said.

In 2007, some migrant shelters have registered a dramatic demand for their services. By September of this year, the local Casa del Migrante in Ciudad Juarez began taking in three times the number of migrants it was accustomed to receiving. "We were used to having 8 or 10 people before, "said Jose Barrios, the shelter's director, earlier this fall. "Now as many as 30 people a week are arriving, especially on Tuesdays and Fridays." While staying at Ciudad Juarez's Casa del Migrante, guests receive food and shelter, search for work and hear talks about the human rights of migrants.

Barrios attributed the surge in demand for emergency services to a decision by Mexican and US authorities this year to channel many deportees through El Paso-Ciudad Juarez. According to statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute quoted in the Mexican press, 73,216 people were deported from the United States to the state of Chihuahua between the months of January and September of this year..

At the three-day  meeting which concluded in Nuevo Laredo this week, human rights specialists and experts from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico gave a training to Casa del Migrante representatives as part of the network's plan to expand human rights offices at its shelters. The attendees signed a letter addressed to Mexican and US authorities that urges an end to the ill treatment of migrants. Participating in the gathering were Casa del Migrante representatives from the Mexican cities of Tijuana, Agua Prieta, Ciudad Juarez, Reynosa, Altar, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Tampico, Saltillo, Ciudad Acuna, and Ensenada. 

Sources: Enlineadirecta.info, December 5, 2007. Articles by Gaston Monge. El Diario de Juarez, October 13, 2007. 

Mexican Town Subsidizes Guest Workers

After burying 16 of his constituents, Pinal de Amoles Mayor Gustavo
Bueno Vega figured there was a better way for his townspeople to cross into the United States. Now, the National Action Party-led administration of Pinal Amoles, a small municipality located in the central Mexican state of Queretaro, is helping migrants get legal papers to work in the United States.

Pitching in about $500 for each migrant, Mayor Bueno's government pays for the transportation and lodging of prospective guest workers seeking work visas from the US Consulate in the northern city of Monterrey. Workers or their employers are then responsible for visa, passport, photo-copy and other document expenses.

Charged with processing H-2 employment visas for agricultural and other purposes, the Monterrey Consulate bills itself as the US diplomatic facility issuing the largest number of such temporary work permits in the world. Granted for specific lengths of time, H-2 visas limit holders to working for one employer. In 2007, two 20-person crews of guest workers from Pinal de Amoles went to the United States. One group worked in the southern California avocado harvest, while the second was sent on the orange-picking circuit of Arkansas and Florida.

As in many rural Mexican towns, the culture of Pinal de Amoles, estimated population 25,000, is deeply ingrained by migration. Local officials estimate between 35-60 percent of the population is currently living in the United States. Once done with elementary school, young people are ready to pack up and realize their "American Dream," which sometimes ends tragically.

"Generally, we have gone over there to work," shrugged resident Juan Sanchez Hernandez. "There is no work over here, and one goes over there, though suffering." Sanchez's brother, Lorenzo, worked at a meat-packing plant in the United States for two years before he was killed in an automobile accident. Costs for returning and burying the corpses of Pinal de Amoles migrants hover around $6,000 per person. 
 
Sources: Frontenet.com, December 3, 2007. Monterrery.usconsulate.gov 

Migrant Leaders Launch New Tri-national Initiative

Angered by what they perceive as a hardening US stance on immigration-related issues, Mexicans from a variety of political forces are mobilizing to support migrants north of their border. For the first time, leaders of Mexican immigrants residing in the US and Canada convened a meeting in the Mexican capital to demand stronger action from the government of President Felipe Calderon. Held November 16-17, the sometimes raucous First Parliament of Mexican Migrant Leaders November attracted nearly 600 participants. Twenty Mexican legislators from different political parties and representatives of the National Migration Institute (INM) were on hand for the proceedings.  

Fired up by the mounting deportations of undocumented Mexicans from the US, some activists at the Mexico City meeting called on the Calderon administration to cease trade, investment, anti-crime and security negotiations with the US until Washington puts a moratorium on immigration law enforcement raids and deportations.

"Immigration reform and a path to citizenship could be the next steps to take," said Ema Lozano, president of the Chicago-based Centro Sin Fronteras. "What's urgent at this moment is to negotiate a halt to deportations."

According to the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, about 22,000 people  are deported from the United States to Mexico every month.

The Calderon administration's posture on migration issues is coming under increasing fire from across the Mexican political spectrum. Even Jorge Castaneda, a former Fox administration foreign minister, has criticized the Calderon government for allegedly not doing enough on the migrant question. 

President Calderon is urging US presidential candidates to refrain from turning migrants into "hostages" of the 2008 election, but his administration is negotiating an expanded anti-drug control agreement with Washington in addition to stepping up border controls in both the north and south of Mexico.

In Mexico City, migrant leaders agreed to constitute the parliament as a permanent organization not tied to any particular political party.  Unveiled at the meeting, the so-called Missouri Plan proposes to exclusively reserve 10 new seats for deputies and two new seats for senators in the Mexican Congress for Mexican migrants living abroad. Parliament members likewise urged the Mexican federal government to establish a cabinet-level ministry of migrant affairs.

Other goals outlined at the meeting included promoting the political participation of migrants in both US and Mexican elections, and earmarking one cent of every dollar in remittances for a fund  set up to help pay the healthcare costs of  migrant children in the US.  In a solemn moment, First Parliament participants observed one minute of silence for the nearly 400 people who have died trying to cross the US border this year.

Federal Congressman Jose Edmundo Martinez of the Institutional Revolutionary Party characterized the gathering as a "watershed" event that could force more official attention on the migrant issue.

An unscheduled speech by deported US immigration activist Elvira Arellano drew sharp rebukes from some attendees but enthusiastic responses from others. Arellano announced she was commencing a hunger strike November 16 to protest US immigration policies and to pressure the Calderon government into taking a tougher stand with Washington. She said the hunger strike would last until December 12, Virgin of Guadalupe Day in Mexico. Echoing calls to halt negotiations with Washington until the immigration issue has been addressed,  a tearful Arellano contended that Mexico could not economically or socially absorb an estimated six million Mexicans who face deportation from the US.

"Our government has remained silent as we are treated like criminals and terrorists in the United States," Arellano said. "When a mother, a child or a worker is deported, our government is silent."

Prior to the meeting, Arellano said she was organizing a network of migrant relatives to make the immigration issue a political priority in Mexico.

Objecting to Arellano's speech, federal Deputy Maria Deputy Dolores Gonzalez Sanchez of the conservative National Action Party blasted the migrant parliament for supposedly being a political show staged by the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Evoking cat-calls, Gonzalez labeled the meeting "a PRD spectacle and an insult to national sovereignty."

In another pro-migrant event, practitioners of two distinct  musical genres banded together on November 18 for a massive concert attended by an estimated 150,000 people in the northern  Mexican city of Monterrey. Sharing the bill were the norteno balladeers of Los Tigres del Norte and the hard rock legends of Jaguares.
 
"With their songs Paisano and Cage of Gold, among others, Los Tigres del Norte address the theme of migration in a timely manner" said Katzir Meza, cultural events director for the Monterrey Universal Cultures Forum 2007. "(Jaguares) has a record of participation. Both groups have contributed to migration, human rights and justice causes."

The Tigres/Jaguares mega-concert was preceded by a Monterrey dialogue on migrant issues moderated by TV Azteca national news host Javier Solorzano.   

Sources: Terra.com/EFE,  November 19, 2007. La Jornada, November 16, 17 and 18, 2007. Articles by Jose Antonio Roman, editorial staff and the Notimex news agency. Proceso/Apro, November 18, 2007. El Sur/Agencia Reforma, November 17, 2007. Article by Adriana Garcia. El Diario de Juarez, November 17, 2007. Frontera/SUN, November 16, 2007. Univision, November 16 and 17, 2007. Cimacnoticias.com, October 11 and 22, 2007; November 16, 2007. Articles by Leticia Puente Beresford and Hypatia Velasco.

Latin America Border Series : Guatemala's Hour of the Migrant

In Guatemala's two-round presidential election that climaxes November 4, the looming figure of the migrant worker is beginning to get noticed. At one of the final rallies of the conservative Patriot Party (PP), militants distributed telephone calling cards so users could first hear a message from retired army general and presidential candidate Otto Perez and then call relatives in the United States for a few minutes without charge. Earlier in the campaign, Perez met with indigenous representatives who called for greater government attention directed at the needs of migrants in the United States.

The 2007 Guatemalan election gives one glimpse of the transformation migrants have played in the Central American nation's life in recent years. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 1,480,000 Guatemalans live abroad, most of them in the United States. The number represents more than 10 percent of Guatemala's approximate population of 13.3 million people. An estimated 40 percent of Guatemalan migrants are illiterate.

Nowadays, migrant remittances are a key pillar of the Guatemalan economy. The country received more than $3.4 billion in remittances during 2006, according to the IOM. For 2007, the IOM estimates Guatemala will receive $3.9 billion in remittances, while the Bank of Guatemala projects a higher number of $4.2 billion. By the end of 2006, the IOM estimated that 3.7 million Guatemalans residing in 918,819 households received remittances. In fact, the number of households getting remittances jumped 19.3 percent from 2004 to 2006. More than one-fourth of all Guatemalans now depend on remittance income for at least part of their income. In Latin American terms, Guatemala is fourth in the ranking of remittance income, falling behind Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.

Women are the biggest recipients of money coming from abroad, with 67 percent of all remittances going directly into the hands of females. Like their Mexican counterparts, Guatemalan women typically spend remittance money on meeting immediate basic needs. Few dollars are invested in long-term economic development projects.  By the same token, more women are joining the migrant stream. Besides wanting to break the shackles of poverty, women reportedly are fleeing their country because of the widespread gender violence that plagues Guatemalan society. Fabiola Galvan, an attorney for the non-governmental Human Rights Legal Action Center (CALDH) contends that women's human rights are not effectively protected by the state. According to the CALDH's Abner Paredes, at least 2,500 Guatemalan women were murdered during the last four years. 

Guatemalan migrant advocates are demanding that their government place migrant issues on the political agenda. Taking to the streets, Guatemalans participated in the mass 2006 May Day mobilizations both at home and in the United States. In partial response to the movement, the Guatemalan Congress approved the formation of an official migrant coordinating council (Conamigua) this fall. "Now is the time for showing migrants that the state has the will to support them," said Julio Cesar Lopez Villatoro, president of the  migrant commission in the Guatemalan Congress and a representative of the FRG party. 

Consisting of representatives from the private and public sectors, Conamigua will coordinate government social programs and policies designed to help migrants. The new council includes representatives of the Congress, Bank of Guatemala, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labor, Office of the Presidency, and Attorney General for Human Rights. Pro-migrant, non-governmental organizations will have one voting representative on the policy body.

Mixed reactions greeted Conamigua’s birth. "The law might be good, but it's useless if it is not applied," said PP legislator Gudy Rivera. "It will now be necessary to guarantee compliance with this regulation so meaningful attention can be given to Guatemalans who have been forgotten by public policies for years."

For their part, leaders of several pro-migrant organizations in Guatemala and the United States called for added representation of migrant voices in Conamigua. "We look on (Conamigua) with positive light, but we still hope there could be an amendment in the future to gain genuine representation," said Marion Gonzalez, president of the National Coalition of Guatemalan Immigrants in the United States. 

As Conamigua gets established, migrant advocates are pushing several issues they insist deserve priority attention. Among their demands are an independent government line in relation to U.S. immigration policies; more aggressive consular defense of Guatemalan immigrants in the United States; coordination with other Central American countries in a common migration policy front; better functioning of existing migrant social support programs; and the implementation of a comprehensive program that aids deportees.

Said lawmaker Lopez of the new migrant council:  "We know that we will not be able to interfere in the foreign policies or anti-immigrant measures of nations, but the least we should do is expand the coverage of consular services and give attention to the migrants, so that they can count on a helping hand when they feel threatened."

Sources: Cimacnoticias.com, October 5, 9 and 29, 2007. Articles by Carmen Moran and Maria Guadalupe Gomez Quintana. La Jornada, October 17 and November 1, 2007. Prensa Libre, October 11, 12 and 28, 2007. Articles by Francisco Gonzalez Arrecis, Luisa F. Rodriguez, Conie Reynoso, Ana Lucia Blas, Eduardo Sam Chun, and editorial staff. NotiCen (UNM), November 11, 2006. Enlacesamerica.org

Mexico Taps New Labor Export Markets

Confronted with diminishing prospects in the United States, Mexican workers could soon find additional employment opportunities in other places abroad. At a Madrid summit this week, the Spanish and Mexican governments signed a 12-month pilot program that will ease job placements for temporary Mexican workers in Spain. Scheduled to begin on January 1, 2008, the program will be open to workers in a variety of fields. In a veiled poke at US immigration policies, Mexican Labor Minister Javier Lozano Alarcon praised the new bilateral agreement between Mexico and Spain.   

"Instead of walls, agreements are constructed when there is will, sensibility, intelligence and understanding," Lozano said.  

Free of charge to potential workers, the labor agreement will also permit
some Spanish citizens to legally work in Mexico. Currently, an estimated 10,000 Mexicans reside in Spain, half of whom are students. Mexican tourists visiting Spain number approximately 300,000 each year. Previous to the deal with Mexico, Spain signed guest worker accords with Colombia and Ecuador. No specific figure of how many Mexican guest workers will be contracted in Spain was immediately announced.

Meanwhile, more Mexican workers could be heading north to Canada. Despite reported abuses and other problems in an existing Canada-Mexico guest worker program, some Canadian political and business leaders are appealing for a dramatic increase in the number of Mexican guest workers allowed to work in their country.
 
After a recent meeting with Mexican Interior Ministry official Florencio Salazar, a Toronto city councilman told the press that he wanted much greater numbers of Mexican workers employed in Canada.

"Hundreds of thousands of workers are needed," said Toronto Councilman Giorgio Mammoliti. "The (Canadian) business community has a big interest in counting on (Mexican) workers, and we have expressed this at the highest levels of both governments." According to Mammoliti, skilled Mexican labor is needed in the construction, tourist and service sectors.

"There are many Mexicans who go to Canada to work but they are not trained for these areas, and the problem is that we need a lot of personnel." Mammoliti added.

Under an existing agreement, temporary Mexican workers are allowed to labor in Canadian fields. Launched in 1980, the program’s enrollment grew from 678 workers during its first year to 9,913 in 2006. At its 2005 peak, the program employed 11,720 Mexican workers. In recent months, however, the Mexican press has carried stories about allegedly poor working conditions faced by Mexican agricultural guest workers in Canada. No immediate Mexican response to Mammoliti's proposal was forthcoming, but the Canadian politician assured a reporter that Mexican officials are "in favor of expanding" the guest worker program beyond agriculture. "We are confident of a bilateral negotiation," Mammoliti said.

Sources: La Jornada, October 12, 13 and 15, 2007. Articles by Fabiola Martinez, and the AFP and Notimex news agencies. El Diario de Juarez, October 15, 2007.  

Child Deportation Numbers Reported

Traveling across the Mexican interior, often alone, underage migrants are considered at greater risk of suffering illness, sexual assault and other forms of physical violence. Many child migrants who cross the border without papers are detained by United States immigration agents and deported back to Mexico. 

According to Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM), 5,279 minors were deported from the US to the state of Chihuahua between January and September of this year. More than half of the deportees, 56 percent, were detained while traveling alone. Of the deported minors, 1,147 were below 12 years of age. The vast majority of the deportees, 4,921 to be precise, were taken into custody while trying to cross the US border.

In Mexico, deported minors who are alone are turned over to Integral Family Development centers, legal authorities or non-governmental support institutions while efforts are made to reunite the children with their families.

The INM recently analyzed some of the demographic characteristics of this year's group of child migrants deported to Chihuahua. Researchers found that 20 percent of the deportees did not complete any elementary school grade, while 60 percent had some experience with primary school. Another group had attended middle school, while a smaller percentage had at least some high school studies.

Most of the young migrants studied, 1,582, were from the state of Chihuahua. Other Mexican states with high numbers of residents represented in the deportation figures included Durango, which accounted for 402 deportees; Oaxaca, 361; Guanajuato, 318; Michoacan, 271; Zacatecas, 269; and Mexico state, 242. Smaller numbers of deported minors hailed from other states of the Mexican Republic as well.

Source: El Diario de Juarez, October 10, 2007.  

Exporting Mexico's Demographic Bonus

Especially during the last three years, fierce debate has raged in the United States over the costs and benefits of immigration from Mexico. With the exception of the issue of economic remittances sent by migrants, less analysis has been focused on the possible impacts of emigration in Mexico. A recent article by Mauricio Farah Gebara, representative of Mexico's official National Human Rights Commission, suggests that the massive emigration which has uprooted entire Mexican communities could be holding back his country's economic development. 

Citing the example of the so-called "Asian tigers," Farah argues that nations realize economic transformation when a large percentage of their populations is at a young, productive age. "Today (Asian nations) reap the benefits and are genuine economic powers, with high standards of living," Farah writes. "It is precisely from this experience which the expression demographic bonus derives."

In his treatment of the demographic bonus, Farah doesn't address other factors that could help explain the economic boom in the Far East.  For instance, many Asian nations historically maintained high tariffs. On the other hand, Mexico began opening up its economy in the early 1980s, a time when its youthful demographic bulge was in full glory.

According to Farah, Mexico's demographic bonus began kicking in about 1970, when 47.5 percent of the population was less than 15 years of age and an even larger group, 48.8 percent, was between 15 and 64 years of age. The latter group represented a demographic spread that encompassed many people considered to be at the peak of their productive capacity. Almost forty years later, Farah notes, youths under 19 years of age represent 34 percent of the population; people between 20 and 64 years of age account for 55 percent of the total population. 

Nowadays, Mexican society is aging. While in 1970 only 4.4 percent of the population was older than 65 years of age, 11 percent of the population fit into the same age grouping by 2006. Paralleling the growing graying of the nation, Mexico's annual rate of population increase fell from a peak of 3.4 percent in 1965 to 1.42 percent in 2006. 

Citing statistics from Mexico's National Population Council, Farah contends that emigration is limiting the availability of a domestic labor force. In 2006, he writes, two million Mexicans were born and 500,000 died, thus resulting in an initial population growth of one-and-a-half million people. Factoring in the estimated 560,000 people who moved to the United States,
many of whom were in their working prime, Mexico's real population gain amounted to 940,000 people, according to Farah. 

Since women account for approximately 43 percent of the new migrants, the feminization of emigration is having a profound effect on Mexico's population growth and demography, Farah contends. Unlike earlier, predominantly male migrants who frequently returned home, women tend to stay in the United States.

"The physical and intellectual work force that emigrated will produce in
the United States, not in Mexico," Farah concludes. "We have to make sure that Mexicans construct the future of Mexico. We have to stop the exportation of our principal wealth."

Source: El Diario de El Paso, September 23, 2007. Article by Mauricio Farah Gebara

Strains in Canada-Mexico Relations 

Canada has long enjoyed a reputation among Mexicans as a friendly country that is much easier to visit than the United States, a neighbor which strictly limits which Mexican nationals can cross the border. In order to legally enter this country, visa-seeking Mexicans anticipate spending long hours in line at US consular offices. Canada hosts a growing number of Mexican migrants and tourists, while Mexico embraces large numbers of Canadian snowbirds who pass lazy winter months in sunny Acapulco and other coastal resorts every year. However, relationships between Canada and Mexico are currently experiencing strains.

A spill-over effect from the tougher enforcement of immigration laws in the United States explains at least in part the tensions between the two countries.  Last month, the Canadian border city of Windsor across from Detroit was swamped by 200 asylum-seeking Mexican migrants who had traveled from Florida, apparently lured under false premises by a “religious group” that promised easy Canadian residence on the basis of refugee status. Upon arrival in Canada, the migrants found themselves stranded. Declaring that Windsor was over-burdened by an initial $200,000 hotel bill for lodging the Mexicans,  Mayor Eddie Francis appealed to his federal government for financial assistance. 

The Windsor incident unfolded at a moment when Canadian border controls are yielding official complaints from the Mexican government. Mauricio Guerrero, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Canada, recently contended that co-nationals arriving on Canadian territory were increasingly mistreated. According to Guerrero, about 11,000 Mexicans have been detained and deported from Canada since 2004. The number represents a sharp increase from just a few years ago, when less than 800 Mexicans were deported from Canada for each of the years 2002 and 2003.

"The majority of Mexicans who are detained when they arrive in Canada are treated in an unacceptable manner," Guerrero said. "They are handcuffed, and sometimes deprived of sanitary services or medicine," Charging that Mexicans spend various days in detention before being deported, Guerrero added that Mexico City has filed multiple complaints about the treatment of its citizens with the Canadian government. "This is a matter that could affect the relations between two countries," he said.

On the flip side of the coin, Mexico's image among Canadian tourists and part-time residents has suffered recent blows, especially in Acapulco, where snowbirds infuse much-needed cash into the economy. Last winter, calls for a tourist boycott reverberated in Canada last after the suspicious death of 19-year-old Canadian citizen Adamo Prisco outside an Acapulco discotheque prompted accusations of a police cover-up. At the same time, Canadian part-time residents of Acapulco launched protests against the chaotic, hazardous traffic that roars along the city's Costera main drag like a massive try-out for the Indy 500.

"Every time we cross the street we put our lives in danger, especially the invalids and older adults," said Canadian tourist Emilio Parziale. A 77-year-old Canadian woman, Sara Morabia, was run over by a taxi last February.  Outbreaks of narco-violence and dengue fever in resort towns like Acapulco have also fanned negative publicity about Mexico in Canada.

Tourism and immigration-related tensions haven’t dampened commercial ties between Canada and Mexico . Quebec Foreign Minister Monique Gagnon Trimblay, for example, recently announced a series of business agreements that expands Canadian participation in the alternative energy, environmental services, construction and information technology sectors.

The $20 million-dollar Quebec-Mexico accord encompasses projects in Acapulco, Ciudad Juarez, Cancun, and Monterrey. In Acapulco, a Canadian firm was selected to work on cleaning the city's long-polluted bay. Quebec official Gagnon also revealed that 25 Canadian companies were scheduled to travel on trade mission to the northern Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon. She added that Mexico is Quebec's largest Latin American trading partner.

Sources: El Diario de El Paso/Notimex/El Universal, September 20 and 22, 2007. El Sur, January 22, 23 and 27, 2007; February 11 and September 24, 2007. Articles by Xavier Rosado, Aurora Harrison, Maximo Kuri, editorial staff, and the Reforma news agency. 

The US Senate´s Rejection of  Immigration Reform Sends Political Ripples into Mexico

Widely condemned across Mexico´s political spectrum, the US Senate´s failure to pass an immigration reform bill has touched off  reactions that could influence the course of  Mexican politics as well as bilateral US-Mexico relations.

In the wake of the recent vote, legislators from  the opposition  Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) demanded that the administration of President Felipe Calderon adopt a more agressive defense of undocumented Mexicans in the United States.

Ricardo Garcia Cervantes, the president of the North American foreign relations commission in the Mexican Senate, contended that Mexico´s federal government ¨has to do its job¨and get the immigration question back on the political agenda between the US and Mexico.

At the same time, the PRI members of the lower chamber of the Mexican Congress sent a letter to President Calderon requesting that he demand Washington  halt  the construction of  new border walls. The PRI representatives proposed the possibility of withdrawing Mexico´s ambassador to the US if no positive response was received from the Bush administration.

In other pronoucements, the National Campesino Confederation (CNC), a mass organization of small farmers historically tied to the PRI, and the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) both commented that the defeat of immigration reform in the US demonstrated the need for a fresh look at job creation and other internal solutions to a migration crisis that has as many as 600,000 Mexicans leaving  their homeland every year.

For his part, longtime Mexican political leader Porfirio Munoz Ledo noted the irony of the immigration bill defeat at a time when Mexican residents of  US arereportedly consuming more than other US residents, and driving economic growth. 

In an exclusive interview with Frontera NorteSur, Munoz Ledo called Mexicans in the US a ¨boost to the North American economy.¨ A former leader of the PRI  who helped found the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution in 1989, Munoz Ledo has served in both houses of Mexican Congress. He was once Mexico´s ambasssor to the United Nations, and during the early years of the Fox Administration  served as ambassador to the European Union.

Munoz Ledo traced the current immigration crisis to the North American Free Agreement that opened the door to the massive importation of basic grains from the United States and the ¨depopulation¨of the Mexican countryside.

¨The big error of (former President) Salinas was to not demand the free circulation of people in exchange for the North American Free Agreement, like it exists in Europe,¨ Munoz Ledo said.

The veteran politician also criticized the Mexican government´s ¨timid¨relationships with migrants in the US and with ¨Hispanics in general.¨ Munoz Ledo affirmed that it is up to migrants across the border to press for immigration reform, but that the Mexican government has both a responsibility as well as a right to strengthen relationships with its citizens in the US.

Additional Sources: CNN en Espanol, July 1, 2007. La Jornada, June 30, 2007. Articles by Angeles Mariscal, Georgina Saldierna, Gabriel Leon, Roberto Garduno, and Andrea Becerril.

Geraldine's Story: From Nogales to Afghanistan

Mexican immigrants have filled virtually every nook and cranny of the US economy. They toil away as cannery workers in Alaska processing crab for seafood lovers; they sweep private Dallas jets for the corporate elite, and they sweat in the hot New Mexico sun installing roofs for the dream homes of countless couples. More and more, their personal stories are getting coverage in both the Mexican and the US press. Geraldine Marquez was one woman whose name leaped from the anonymity of the immigrant economy and culture and onto the front pages. Unfortunately, she never saw the stories about her.

Born in the border town of Nogales, Sonora, Marquez moved with her family to southern California when she was young. Later, the young woman served in the United States Air Force before moving on to defense contractor Lockheed Martin. On February 27 of this year, Marquez was killed along with 22 other people when a suicide bomber exploded a device at Bagram air base in Afghanistan where the 31-year-old woman was employed. The attack occurred while U.S President Dick Cheney was visiting the base.
 
Just prior to her death, Marquez celebrated her birthday. According to her brother-in-law, Victor Rios, Marquez recently told him that she felt secure in her situation at Bagram, where she worked in the supply section. However, Marquez's family grew worried when the Lockheed Martin employee failed to return birthday e-mails. "We were worried about her and praying that nothing had happened to her," Rios reportedly told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of California.

Even though Marquez was involved in a US mission, her death received more immediate attention in the Mexican than in the US press. The story was prominently posted on the home pages of several national and regional Internet news sites.

Sources: El Universal/Notimex, March 2, 2007. La Jornada, March 2. 2007.

The Galactic Battle of the Border Cars

Stranded on the US-Mexico border and embroiled in a dispute with Mexican authorities, US residents of Central American origin are battling to return to their homelands for the winter holidays. A conflict centered in the northern Mexican border city of Matamoros , Tamaulipas, pits motor vehicle owners against Mexican customs officials who are demanding the placing of satellite-navigated Global Positioning Systems (GPS) on autos that plan to pass through Mexico .

Rocio Hickson , the spokeswoman for a Central American migrant auto exporters' association, accused local customs officials headed by Eduardo Argote Michel of breaking a previous agreement that delayed implementation of the GPS rule until March 2007. Claiming that the GPS devices don't function on Mexican highways anyway, Hickson said customs officials are violating the spirit of an earlier promise to postpone a planned GPS fee of $400 dollars for each vehicle.

Charging that some Mexican officials were treating the fee as a private business, Hickson said that Matamoros customs officials are still trying to collect $120 dollars from each vehicle owner. Hickson's group represents individuals mainly from El Salvador , Honduras , Guatemala , and Belize . But Mexican customs official Argote Michel maintained that the GPS devices are solely for the purpose of verifying that the US-based migrants drive their cars home to Central America and don't unload them in Mexico for a profit. Mexico has experienced a long-standing problem of used US automobiles dumped on the local market. Many of the older cars and trucks are highly polluting.

Frustrated by the stand-off with the Mexican government and anxious to get home before Christmas, Hickson's group threatened at one point this week to block an international bridge between Matamoros and Texas . Adding that her group was thinking about using US ports to ship the cars by sea if a solution were not found soon, Hickson contended that Mexico stands to lose the most in the conflict.

"Considering that each migrant spends $500 dollars on average during his trip back to Central America , Mexico could lose millions in income," said the migrant car exporter leader.

Source: La Jornada, December 4, 2006 . Article by Julia Antonia Le Duc.

The Border on You Tube

In the age of mass communications, news, information and images flow almost instantly to virtually every nook and cranny of the planet. Nowadays, media consumers can view the realities of the US-Mexico border thanks to the Tamaulipas-based news portal enlineadirecta.info. Featuring links to the Internet site You Tube, the multimedia section of enlineadirecta will guide viewers to professional and amateur video programs about border life.

Recent postings have included an interview with veteran Tijuana investigative journalist and former Zeta newspaper editor Jesus Blancornelas, scenes of the September 18 flooding in Reynosa and a political video entitled "We are all Oaxaca" set to a Rage Against the Machine tune. A particularly biting-and comical-documentary about the administration of outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox entitled "Adventures in the Land of Fox " is also noteworthy.

Another posting portrays conflicts and issues surrounding the presence of Mexican migrant workers in San Diego County , California . Originally aired on the "In Context" program produced by the Telemundo affiliate in Los Angeles , the investigative report takes viewers into the gardens, fields and canyons of a land where undocumented workers live in makeshift hovels in the shadow of luxury homes.

In the vanguard of rural gentrification, affluent residents demand that the low-income workers be moved away from their hidden quarters. Interviewed on the program, resident Julie Adams blames migrants for crimes including the robbery of her home, but San Diego area law enforcement officials are also quoted as saying that the contested area has a low crime rate.

In their report, journalist Maria Garcia and her camera crew travel into migrants' camps, places where workers wash clothes in a river and sleep under tarps. The camps' occupants are mostly young male migrants from Oaxaca state in southern Mexico . One migrant, who is identified as Romulo, says that he sends about $800 dollars home every month to his wife.

Depicting saints and sinners, "In Context's" cameras capture contrasting scenes of prostitutes arriving to service the male workers and priests coming to give mass on Sundays. Viewers learn that many of the migrants work on trendy organic tomato farms, harvesting pricey produce that's eventually sold at Trader Joe's, Gelson's and Whole Foods Market. Emerging from an improvised shelter, Garcia concludes her report by asking: "We're really in California, the fifth richest economy in the world. Is this (hut) the price we have to pay for our tomatoes in the stores, our perfect gardens and our clean streets..?”

source: enlineadirecta.info

Truncated American Dreams

One of Mexico 's most culturally diverse but economically depressed regions, the southern state of Oaxaca is nowadays part of the migrant-sending stream to the United States . Leaving behind their mountain villages, valley farms and coastal towns, Oaxacans are increasingly taking the hard road north for a new life in El Norte. Many will never see their homeland again.

Death figures quoted by the top official of the Oaxacan Institute for Migrant Attention (IOAM) report that at least 139 Oaxaca natives died in the United States during the first seven months of the year. Of the victims, 110 were men and 29 women. According to the IOAM, the causes of death were diverse: automobile accidents, murders, work accidents and dehydration suffered while trying to cross the US-Mexico border.

Sixty-three of the deaths were attributed to automobile crashes. "This is because migrants need to drive to their jobs and, unfortunately, many of them don't know the road signs," said Rene Ruiz Quiroz, IOAM director. "They don't know how to drive on the big highways; they speed and sometimes drive under the influence of alcohol."

The IOAM's death records report that 38 of the Oaxacans who have died in the United States during 2006 were from the impoverished Mixteco region or central valleys. However, Oaxacans from virtually all regions of the state were represented. Reflecting migrant travel and labor patterns, the majority of Oaxacan deaths in the United States so far this year, 50, have taken place in California, but deaths also have been reported in 20 other US states as well.

The IOAM registered 259 deaths of Oaxacans in the United States for all of 2005. Again, deaths caused by automobile accidents, 92 during last year, accounted for the majority of deaths. In 2005, 48 Oaxacans died from various diseases in the United States .

Responding to the death toll, the IOAM is conducting meetings in municipalities that experience high rates of migration in order to inform potential migrants about the hazards of traveling to the United States .

Source: Proceso/Apro, July 26, 2006 . Article by Pedro Matias.

Mexican Deportations of Central Americans Continue

Even as controversy broke out in Mexico about US immigration policy debates and the proposed construction of new border fences earlier this year, the Mexican government was busy increasing the deportation of Central Americans, especially Guatemalans. Cited by the Apro news service, figures from Guatemala 's national migration institute reveal that 43, 685 Guatemalans were deported from Mexico during the first 4 months of 2006. Almost 100,000 Guatemalans were deported from Mexico during all of 2005.

Increasingly, Central American immigrant advocacy groups are blasting the Mexican government for supposedly having a double standard. The activists contend that while Mexico City criticizes Washington for its alleged mistreatment of Mexican undocumented workers, the Mexican government commits the same abuses against Central Americans.

"In recent years, Mexico has been the best student of the United States , putting into practice anti-immigrant strategies against Central Americans," charged Mauro Verzeletti, the director of the Guatemala-based Center for Attention to Migrants.

Most Central Americans detained by Mexican authorities are nabbed while in transit to the United States . Some Central Americans decide to remain in Mexico , where they can apply for an FM-3 work and residency visa. According to Patricia Ferrara, a Mexican National Migration Institute official charged with legalizing the status of migrants, about 50 people in Nuevo Laredo-mostly Hondurans-have acquired applications for FM-3 status since September 2005.

On the Texas border, Nuevo Laredo is considered one of the northern border's most popular "trampolines" into the United States . Ferrara added that only 10 applications are under consideration . "We want more people to come in so they can benefit from the program," Ferrara insisted.

As if trapped in a endless rerun of the 1980's movie El Norte, Guatemalans and other Central American nationals passing through Mexico confront extortion, robbery, rape and other abuses at the hands of immigration officials, police, thieves, immigrant smugglers, and members of the so-called Mara street gangs.

A 2005 survey by the Regional Group of Migrant Human Rights Defender Organizations reported that more than one-third of 300 repatriated Central Americans interviewed for the study complained of bad conditions in Mexican jails. More than 128 of the interviewees complained that they were held in regular jails, while 132 deportees denounced food shortages during their incarceration. Grupo Beta, the special Mexican law enforcement unit charged with protecting migrants, has reported that the number of injured individuals it attended increased from 750 in 2004 to 1,530 in 2005. Alarmingly, Grupo Beta reported that the number of “mutilated”, undocumented persons it assisted increased from 85 in 2004 to 96 in 2005.

In a recent, violent incident that only is exceptional for its casualty toll, armed robbers assaulted a group of 34 Central American nationals in southern Mexico 's Chiapas state earlier this month, wounding 14 members of the group; 12 of the victims were shot.

Speaking at a recent seminar dedicated to migrant rights, Fabian Venet, the director of the migrant advocacy organization Without Borders, slammed the Mexican state and society for reacting too slowly to the violence. A bill to improve the situation of Central American migrants in the southern border region died in the Mexican Senate last December, Venet noted.

"There is no abandonment of the southern border, but there is a clear negligence in terms of an absence of clear policies that shouldn't be merely the responsibility of the federal and state governments but also of the municipal governments and citizenry," Venet said.

In addition to poverty, human rights advocates blame Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and Hurricane Stan in 2005 for accelerating a migrant exodus from Central America . At a summit held in Guatemala last May, Guatemalan Attorney General for Human Rights Sergio Morales Alvarado said that 10 percent of Guatemala 's population has relocated to the United States in search of the "American Dream."

Morales estimated that about 60 percent of Guatemalans currently in the United States do not possess legal immigration documents.

According to a 2005 study by the International Organization for Migration, the Guatemalan population in the United States consisted of 1,364,000 persons. The study found that the vast majority of Guatemalan immigrants in the US send money back home, sustaining an economic flow to the tune of $3.6 billion dollars last year.

Sources: La Jornada/Notimex, August 15, 2006 . Enlineadirecta.info, August 14, 2006 . Article by Nora Morales Morales. Proceso/Apro, August 2, 2006 and August 14, 2006 . Articles by Isain Mandujano and Velia Jaramillo.

Urban Indians in Ciudad Juarez

Uprooted from the land, more and more indigenous Mexicans are finding homes in Ciudad Juarez , Chihuahua . New figures from Mexico 's National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI) report that approximately 14,606 people from dozens of indigenous groups call the border city home. Drawn from the INEGI's 2005 population and housing census, the new population count represents a 74 percent increase over 2000's census figures. Considering Ciudad Juarez 's floating population, however, the indigenous population registered by the INEGI is likely an undercount. According to the INEGI, 42 indigenous languages are spoken in Ciudad Juarez , including Chinateca, Nahuatl, Tarahumara, Mixtec, Zapotec, Popoluca, Huave, Huichol, Tzotzil (Mayan), and numerous others.

Many of Ciudad Juarez 's residents hail from hard-pressed rural zones where the land is not producing and jobs are few and far between. "Over there money and grains are missing," said Ciribina Rosa, an indigenous Raramuri (Tarahumara) who sells herbs in downtown Ciudad Juarez . "There is no corn to eat."

Working the streets and international bridges as vendors or beggars, or toiling away as day laborers, noticeable numbers of indigenous people began arriving to Ciudad Juarez more than 40 years ago. The largest ethnic group, Mazahuas from Mexico state, number about 4,000 people, according to Carlyn James, the local coordinator of the Tarahumara State Coordinator. "(Indigenous people) probably come with the idea of later crossing to the United States to work," James said.

Setting down roots in Ciudad Juarez , indigenous groups have established distintive neighborhoods. For instance, many Raramuris live in three neighborhoods scattered throughout the city and its outskirts, while Mixtecos from southern Oaxaca state inhabit the Anapra colonia near the New Mexico border. In the Raramuri colonias, bilingual schools help teach the children Spanish. According to James, the Raramuris best preserve their language and cultural traditions in the hustle and bustle of a busy border city that's also heavily influenced by US culture.

Among the indigenous population, men still predominate with 55 percent of the population. Some government officials are concerned about the special problems facing women. A new program sponsored by the federal Commission for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence Against Women in Ciudad Juarez seeks to train indigenous women as promoters against domestic violence in their communities. "(Indigenous women) live in a triple vulnerability, because they are women, indigenous and poor," contends Pablo Navarrete, the commission's Ciudad Juarez director.

South of Ciudad Juarez, urban Indians are gaining in population in the state capital of Chihuahua City too. According to the 2005 INEGI census, the number of indigenous people residing in Chihuahua City increased from 6,823 in 2000 to 9,330 in 2005. Numbering 5,090 persons, the Raramuris constituted the largest ethnic group in Chihuahua City last year. Statewide, Chihuahua 's indigenous population rose from 103,057 persons in 2000 to 136,661 in 2005. The leap is attributed to population increases in Chihuahua 's two largest ethnic groups, the Raramuris and the Tepehuans, as well as migration from Mexican states outside Chihuahua .

Sources: El Diario de Juarez, May 30, 2006 . Article by Rocio Gallegos. Norte, May 27, 2006 . Article by Sonia Aguilar.

The Border, Mexico Speak Out on Guards, Gates and Gauntlets

President Bush's announcement that he will significantly increase the number of National Guard troops stationed on the US-Mexico border instantly reframed the terms of the immigration reform debate in the United States . Focused on the immigrant legalization issue in the weeks immediately preceding the President's May 15 speech, the debate suddenly shifted the political discourse to the border security issue. The political ripples quickly spread. By an 83-16 majority, US Senators then approved an amendment May 17 that paves the way for the construction of a series of US-Mexico border walls, albeit on a reduced scale than envisioned in HR 4437, the Sensenbrenner legislation, passed by the US House of Representatives late last year.

In Mexico , reactions to the planned National Guard deployment, as well as the new border walls, were swift, sharp and generally condemnatory. Headlines in major media like the Proceso news weekly spoke about "The Gringo Wall." Harkening back to the killing of Kent State University protestors by Ohio National Guard members in 1970, Mexico City 's El Universal daily ran an editorial warning about threats posed to civilians by a militarization of the border.

From left to right, Roman Catholic Church leaders, the presidential candidates, politicians of differing persuasions, and a host of others joined in a chorus of denunciations. Emerging at a time when an increasingly-polarized election climate is raising political temperatures inside Mexico , the latest US measures offered a rare opportunity for political unity.

One of the sharpest criticisms hailed from Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, secretary-general of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution, who accused President Bush of creating “a climate of xenophobia and violence” against immigrants, especially Mexicans. Employing softer language, Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza of the Institutional Revolutionary Party nevertheless warned that the Bush Administration's decision could imperil US-Mexico relations.

The northern border state governor called on President Fox to assume a strong stand against the National Guard deployment which, according to Gov. Reyes, does not "correspond to the type of bilateral relationship that Mexico and the United States enjoy in 2006."

The Fox Administration Backs President Bush

Amid a national outcry over the US National Guard, the administration of President Vicente Fox stood virtually alone. Echoing President Bush's assurances, Mexican Presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar insisted that the National Guard deployment does not constitute a border militarization, since the soldiers will be used in a back-up support capacity and not as frontline law enforcement agents. President Bush has stated that the deployment will be a stop-gap measure until more US Border Patrol agents can be trained and stationed on the border.

Elaborating on his administration's views, President Fox characterized the Bush Administration's policy as a "logical" component of an integral US immigration-security reform that will benefit Mexican nationals. Rejecting appeals to protest the National Guard deployment, President Fox contended that such objections would not accomplish anything.

“We are working hard together in order to reach an immigration accord,” President Fox insisted. “That is not to say that President Fox is weak, or accepts in any way, human rights violations or abuses, and we are firm about this. Coming just days before a planned Fox visit to the United States, the National Guard announcement prompted the Mexican Senate's permanent commission to attach conditions to the president's visit that require Fox to to convey Mexican concerns about the presence of US troops on the border.

In the home stretch before leaving office, the Fox Administration is staking much of its prestige on the passage of an immigration reform law in the United States . Early on in its term, the Fox Administration made the negotiation of a US-Mexico immigration pact a political centerpiece. Citing statistics from Mexico's National Population Council, a piece in Proceso reported this week that the number of Mexicans migrating to the United States easily doubled from the decade of 1970 to 1980, when an estimated 1.20-1.55 million Mexicans moved to El Norte, to the ten-year span of 1990-2000, when an estimated 3 million Mexicans headed north. According to Proceso, 2.4 million Mexicans will have relocated to the US during the 6 years of the Fox Administration, which concludes next December; other reports have estimated an even higher number of people left Mexico during the Fox years.

On the US Side

In the US border states , the National Guard announcement likewise stirred controversy. Unlike many issues, supporters and opponents of the troop deployment did not divide neatly along party lines. New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, both Democrats, backed the policy, as did Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry. Weeks prior to the White House's decision, Gov. Napolitano announced she that was increasing the number of Arizona National Guard troops assigned to duties near her state's border with Mexico . On the other hand, California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Democratic Governor Bill Richardson were critical of a beefed-up National Guard presence on their borders.

Upholding a human rights stance, immigrant advocacy groups including the American Friends Service Committee, Border Action Network, Latin America Working Group, Border Human Rights Network, Southwest Organizing Project and the San Antonio-based Southwest Public Workers Union, all condemned what they consider another step in the creeping militarization of the border.

"Border communities are being used as political pawns for politicians using "get-tough-on-the border policies to bolster their election year approval ratings," charged Jennifer Allen, director of the Arizona-based Border Action Network.

On the opposite end of the political spectrum, Minuteman leader Chris Simcox said the President's plan didn't go far enough in sealing off the border. Advocating a border "gauntlet," Simcox accused President Bush of "playing the entire country for fools." One CNN poll released after the President's speech, reported that 79 percent of the respondents approved of Bush's plan.

Other political leaders seized on the issue of unilateral decision-making. Tim Manning, the director of the New Mexico Office of Homeland Security, said on New Mexico public radio that he was fully informed of the pending National Guard deployment only 30 minutes before it was announced by President Bush last Monday. Manning said that he first heard rumors about using the National Guard only last week. Three days after the announcement was made, Manning said that he still had no idea how many National Guard troops will be stationed in New Mexico or what units the soldiers will be drawn from for New Mexico border tours. Calling for an enhanced US Border Patrol, Manning said, "Governor Richardson... doesn't want to see the militarization of the border."

Striking similar criticisms, Texas Congressional Representative Silvestre Reyes (D-El Paso) said on national radio that he was worried the National Guard will be deployed without any effective pre-planning or sense of mission. "This is a repeat of Iraq ," contended Rep. Reyes. "We're going to be making this up as we go along."

Ironically, Rep. Reyes, who pioneered a border-sealing strategy back in 1993 when he implemented Operation Hold the Line as the chief of the El Paso Border Patrol Sector, also weighed in against the ambitious fencing plans approved in the House and Senate. Favoring what he called "strategic fencing" in high-density urban population centers, Rep. Reyes said about 100 miles of new fences were necessary along the entire US-Mexico border.

Rep. Reyes also raised an issue that was largely forgotten or downplayed in the Washington and media debates surrounding President Bush's May 15 speech: US-Latin American diplomatic relations. In a letter to President Bush last Monday, the El Paso congressman warned that deploying US troops on the US-Mexico border could fuel anti-American sentiment throughout the hemisphere. Specifically, Rep. Reyes questioned how the decision might influence Mexico 's presidential election and "sway Mexicans toward electing an anti-American administration." Rep. Reyes did not specify which of the five competing Mexican presidential candidates might fall into his classification of "anti-American."

Sources: Proceso/Apro, May 18, 2006 . Articles by Jose Gil Olmos and editorial staff. May 14, 15 , 16, 17, 2006. Articles by Jose Luis Ruiz, Alberto Morales, Nayeli Cortes, Sergio Javier Jimenez, editorial staff, and the Notimex news agency. El Diario de Juarez, March 8 and 24, 2006; May 16 and 17, 2006 Articles by Alejandro Salmon Aguilera, editorial staff, Notimex and the Associated Press. La Jornada, May 13, 16 and 17, Articles by David Brooks, Andrea Bercerril and editorial staff. Ed Schultz Program, May 15 and 18, 2006. KUNM-FM ( Albuquerque ), May 18, 2006 . National Public Radio, May 16, 2006 . Albuquerque Journal/Associated Press, May 18, 2006 . Article by David Espo. Univision, May 14, 16 and 17, 2006. El Paso Times, May 16, 2006 . Article by Chris Roberts.

May Day 2006: Initial Assessments

Nobody really knows how many people participated in the May Day pro-immigrant legalization protest that shook North America and beyond. Very conservative media estimates speak about 1 million people just in the United States , while other media stories and pro-immigrant organizers estimate many millions more. Whatever the numbers, May Day was a spike in a new movement that remarkably, in only a couple months, turned the immigration reform debate in the US on its head, galvanized a new generation of youth activists, spread across borders, and even pumped new life into corporate anti-globalization movements that declined in the wake of September 11, 2001. For the first time in decades, the idea of a general strike was popularized in the United States .

Perhaps the best gauge of how deeply the protest cut into the political fabric is not measured by the mega-marches in Los Angeles or Chicago that each drew 500,000 people or more, but by the actions in almost anonymous settings throughout the United States, places usually not known for their political fervor. In small towns like Tooele , Utah , and Rockdale , Texas , immigrant workers and students demonstrated for legalization. In the self-proclaimed chile (hot pepper) capital of the world of Hatch, New Mexico , a dozen students walked out of the village's small high school- much to the chagrin of a local Baptist minister.

Originally billed as a mass strike and consumer boycott against HR 4437, the Sensenbrenner immigration bill passed by the US House of Representatives last December, and in support of the legalization of undocumented workers, May Day 2006 unfolded in a variety of forms, assuming different characteristics depending on the locale, degree of organization and practical possibilities. Some people went to work or school and attended rallies and marches later in the day. Others stayed home. Some shunned the shopping malls and gas stations. Organized at first by US activists, support for the action quickly spread to Mexico and Central America .

U.S. Actions

Initial assessments of May Day's impact in the US are mixed, ranging from critics who dismissed the action as a misguided adventure that will backfire to movement organizers who characterized the day a great, historic success. Some pro-immigrant forces, most notably the Roman Catholic Church and long-time, Washington, D.C.-based Latino civil rights groups urged people to go to work and school and then participate in mass rallies But by May Day, the call for a strike and boycott had acquired a life of its own, surpassing the ability of traditional organizations to control it.

Word of the protest spread from person-to-person, computer-to-computer and neighborhood-to-neighborhood. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, big companies like Malone's Cost Plus in Dallas announced they were allowing workers to take the day off and participate in the protest.

Shut-downs, whether with employer consent or not, affected strategic sectors of the US economy including California agriculture, Pacific Coast shipping and Florida construction. According to an economist with the Los Angeles Development Corporation, an estimated $200 million dollars in revenue could have been lost on May 1 in Los Angeles County alone. Rumors of mass immigration law enforcement raids that did not materialize also may have contributed to workplace shutdowns. Probably numbering in the thousands, an undetermined number of businesses nationwide closed their doors for the day in solidarity with the movement. In Albuquerque , NM , popular businesses like Taco Tote and El Mezquite market displayed signs announcing their closure.

A post-May Day poll quoted on Univision found that 65 percent of Latino participants did not work on Mayday, while 95 percent reported not buying anything on the boycott day. Most visibly, the huge US rallies and marches, drawing from several thousand to the hundreds of thousands of people, displayed the potential might of what many call "the sleeping giant" of Latino political power. At a large Albuquerque rally that drew several thousand people, signs included: "We are Indigenous People of the Southwest, Not Immigrants," "Mr. Bush: Respect our 1848 Treaty Mexico USA," "Build Schools, Not Borders," "We Pick, We Cook, Serve Your Food," "Justice for Immigrants," and simply "Viva La Raza."

A long-time US resident from Ecuador who worked for 10 years in Alaskan mines, David Rodriguez said May Day had been a long time coming. “I've lived in the US for 30 years and you never used to see these kinds of demonstrations 30 years ago,” Rodriguez said. “There weren't demonstrations of this kind, or organization. Certainly, this is a power that still needs to be organized more….we still got a little ways to go.”

May Day wasn't exclusively a Latino issue, though. In Chicago , large numbers of Chinese, Polish, Irish and other immigrants joined the protest, while in Denver , members of the American Indian Movement took part in a mass rally that drew perhaps 75,000 people. The indigenous activists aimed their criticisms at politicians like Colorado Rep. Tam Tancredo, protesting what they charged was a Washington power monopoly on deciding the destinies of millions of people. "This is a rally about the future of the Americas ," said Colorado AIM leader Glen Morris.

Controversy erupted over the boycott, once again underscoring class differences and conflicting economic interests in the pro-legalization movement. Credited for boosting turn-outs at earlier events in March and April, Spanish-language commercial media, which is obviously dependent on advertising revenues, emerged as the leading voice against boycotts. The Spanish-language television monopoly Univision even followed up May Day with a news story that featured a spokesperson from Los Angeles ' Carecen immigrant rights advocacy organization who criticized the boycott tactic as ineffective.

No counter point of view was presented in the report, even though boycotts, a curious omission, since in the case of the United Farm Workers Union's grape and lettuce boycotts of past decades or the Florida farmworkers' boycott of Taco Bell more recently, tangible results have been yielded.

Mexico 's Day of Solidarity

Spreading on the Internet, the message for solidarity with US immigrants on May Day produced mass marches and rallies, international bridge shut-downs and scattered boycotts of US businesses and franchises in Mexico. As in the United States , the actions were not coordinated by a single organization south of the border, and involved unions, students, former braceros, indigenous groups, and others. A few days before May Day, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution backing the US immigrant protest.

May Day solidarity actions were strongest in the northern border region. In Monterrey , Nuevo Leon , 200 protestors got a head start on others when they closed a Wal-Mart store for 10 minutes on April 30. The next day, in bridge blockades ranging from 15 minutes to several hours, different groups closed international crossings in Tijuana-San Diego, Tecate, Mexicali-Calexico, Ciudad Juarez-El Paso, Nuevo Laredo-Laredo, Reynosa-Hidalgo, and Matamoros-Brownsville. Downtown El Paso , which is largely dependent on shoppers from neighboring Ciudad Juarez , was reported largely deserted with 75 percent of its stores closed. Students, ex-braceros, merchants and others participated in the actions. In Mexicali , former braceros marched to the city's "La Pagoda" building to symbolize Mexican-Chinese unity.

In the interior, May Day had a more scattered impact. Despite the boycott call, brisk business was reported at Wal-Mart and other US-brand establishments in Mexico City . Some shoppers said they couldn't afford to lose a shopping day on traditional work holiday, while others claimed they did not know about the boycott.

Messages of solidarity were voiced at several mass May Day rallies and traditional parades in the capital city, including one protest outside the US Embassy led by Zapatista Subcomandante Marco. Linking the migrant struggle with other causes, Marcos declared the real struggle was for a new society in which people would not have to live their homes in search of work.

In Toluca near Mexico City , meanwhile, Mazahua indigenous women marched into a McDonald's restaurant and offered free tortillas and traditional Mexican food to customers. In one of Mexico 's newer migrant expelling regions, the Yucatan Peninsula , an estimated 200,000 indigenous Mayans reportedly supported the boycott. Masses in honor of migrants were held in some Yucatan municipalities, and a group of protestors burned cartons of US products outside the US Consulate in Merida . Over on the Pacific Coast, residents of San Marcos, Guerrero, dressed up in white and staged a march in support of their 25,000 relatives neighbors who work in El Norte.

May Day also was an occasion for the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and the Mexican franchise holders to stake out their positions. While generally agreeing with the need for immigration reform, the business groups argued, not surprisingly, against the consumer boycott tactic. The NAFTA-linked business sector leaders emphasized how US businesses and franchises employed Mexicans and used Mexican ingredients in their products.

Central America Joins in Too

Even more dependent on migrant money from the US than Mexicans, Central Americans massively supported the May Day actions. Marchers raised the migrant banner in Honduras , Guatemala , El Salvador , Nicaragua , Costa Rica , and Panama . Like others, Salvadoran Benito Martinez said that “almost everybody” from his family is now living and working in the US .

The pro-migrant movement generated support across the political spectrum from left to right, showing how mass emigration has transformed and influenced the post-Cold War Central American political scene. Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos and Sandinista Front leader Daniel Ortega both spoke out in support of the US immigrant movement, while Rene Figueroa, an interior ministry official from the conservative National Republican Alliance government in El Salvador , gave his verbal support. El Salvador 's largest leftist party, the former guerrilla Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, dedicated its 2006 May Day march to US migrants.

Like their Mexican counterparts, business associations in Central America slammed the boycott. Jose Raul Gonzalez, the vice-president of Central America 's Pepsi bottler, said, "Consumers do not know that this 'gringo' product is as Guatemalan as they are; the only thing gringo is the brand." Gonzalez and other business spokespersons did not disclose how much money Pepsi and other multinational companies earn for the rights of using their name and business structure.

In both Mexico and Central America , many of the pro-immigrant May Day protests also brought up the NAFTA and CAFTA trade agreements, low salaries, high energy costs, and other economic grievances. "CAFTA, as well as the neo-liberal measures imposed by the US and the International Monetary Fund are directly responsible for the unemployment and migrations," declared Honduran opposition leader Carlos Reyes. "Therefore, the US has the obligation not to deport (migrants) but to welcome them, and not to criminalize their migratory status."

May Day's Possible Impacts

US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist dismissed the May Day protests as not carrying any potential weight in the immigration reform legislation debate, but others are confident the echoes of May Day will be heard when the US Senate takes up the stalled legislation this month. Anti-legalization forces are wagering that a backlash to seeing Mexican flags waving in the streets will help forestall any reforms smacking of amnesty.

A CNN poll released this week reported that sympathy for immigrants had dropped from 70 percent of respondents in April to 57 percent in May. Pro-legalization organizations, on the other hand, are betting their newly-displayed strength will produce positive results. How the negotiations between a Senate bill and the Sensenbrenner HR 4437 House legislation pan out in the days ahead is the big question. Still in doubt is whether any legislation at will be approved by both houses of Congress and signed by President Bush in an election year.

Eligibility for green cards, guestworkers and border security provisions will be among the key sticking points. Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a former US Border Patrol chief, said it's almost certain that the massive border wall and undocumented immigrant criminalization aspects of the Sensenbrenner bill are dead. If Reyes is correct, the new pro-immigrant movement can claim a great, first victory.

Analysts will be carefully watching the electoral repercussions of the pro-immigrant movement in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Many of today's protestors are US citizens-and current or potential voters- who turned out to support their relatives and friends. A common slogan in protests across the nation was: "Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote." And with a new generation politicized, May Day's winds of change could well expand beyond the arena of electoral politics.

Jorge Mujica, a leader of Chicago's March 10 Coalition, assessed the mass movement as the beginning of a new international worker movement not just limited to legalization, but one advocating for “better working conditions” as well. On an international scale, May Day 2006 showcased "the first big revolutionary movement of the 21st Century,” Mujica contended.

Arguably, May Day was the third big wave of cross-border movements in recent years. The anti-World Trade Organization protests of the late 1990s and the anti-Iraq war demonstrations of early 2003 could be considered precursors to today's movement because of the way they rapidly leaped across borders in support of the same cause. In another important sense, May Day 2006 is the latest example of the reemergence of civil society as a vital actor on national political stages, a development also witnessed in the French student strikes, the Nepalese pro-democracy movement and the large demonstrations in Puerto Rico that could culminate in a general strike in the coming days in protest of a government fiscal melt-down.

Additional sources: El Paso Times, May 2 and 8, 2006. Articles by Vic Kolenc and Louie Gilot. La Jornada, April 30, 2006 ; May 2, 3, 4, 7, 2006. Articles by Juan Balboa, David Brooks, Alfredo Mendez Ortiz, the DPA news agency, and editorial staff. Latin America Data Base ( UNM ) , May 4, 2006 . Proceso/Apro, May 2, 2006 . Articles by Rodrigo Vera, Gabriela Hernandez and Jose Palacios Tepate. Latino USA/KUNM, May 8, 2006 . Independent Native News/KUNM, May 2, 2006 . CNN, May 2, 2006 . Univision, April 28 and 30, 2006; May 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 2006. El Universal, April 27 and 30, 2006; May 1 and 2, 2006. Articles by Maria Teresa Montano, Rubelio Fernandez, Roberto Aguilar Grimaldo, Francisco Resendiz, Jorge Herrera, Juan Cedillo, and the Notimex news agency. Associated Press, May 1, 2006 . Articles by Mark Stevenson and Michael Kahn. Albuquerque Journal, May 2, 2006 . Article by Debra Dominguez-Lund Frontera, May 1, 2006 . La Cronica, May 1, 2006 . Article by Hugo Ruvalcaba. lapolaka.com, May 1, 2006 . enlineadirecta.info, May 1, 2006 . El Sur, May 2, 2006 . Articles by Karenine Trigo and Zacarias Cervantes. El Diario de Juarez, May 1, 2006 . Articles by Ramon Chaparro.

The Historic Days of May Loom

Millions of people on both sides of the US-Mexico border are expected to take part in an unprecedented May 1 protest in support of the legalization of undocumented immigrants who work and live in El Norte. The cross-border action is the next stage in a surprise mass movement that erupted on US streets last month. But a call to action that was originally billed as a general work and shopping strike in the United States , has evolved into a more varied protest that will manifest different forms in different places. Protest marches, consumer boycotts, public forums, and even work stoppages are being organized in scores of localities.

David McField, a Los Angeles pro-immigrant activist of Nicaraguan-origin, termed as "mean and ungrateful" the treatment of workers who have made the US "bigger and more powerful." Said McField, “Latin Americans have had to come here because we haven't had opportunities in our own countries. The US government, not the US people, has helped perpetuate the conditions of exploitation in our countries..that't why we ask that the North American people support us."

Spreading far and wide, the outcome of the pending May Day protest is as unpredictable as the movement few could have envisioned just a couple months ago. Concerns over the reported firings of some US immigrant workers who participated in earlier work stoppages and protests on April 10 and fears about an anti-immigrant backlash are creating tactical differences within the US movement. In Los Angeles , for instance, two broad coalitions, the March 25 Movement and Somos America , are sponsoring separate marches at different times.

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are urging people to go to work and attend school on May 1, but encouraging participation in a mass rally planned for after-hours. Labor unions, which constitute an important sector of the movement, worry that their involvement in work stoppages could be deemed as promotions of illegal strikes. Also, many activists are suspicious of the timing of this month's Department of Homeland Security raids on IFCO company worksites across the United States, which came just days after the April 10 protests and resulted in the arrests of more than 1,100 undocumented workers.

On the other hand, Los Angeles ' Continental Front is among movement groups that still endorse the tactic of staying home from work and school. Members of the Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana and allied groups of Mexican immigrant clubs support a variety of May Day actions, depending on the individual possibilities and risks. Some employers have agreed to allow their employees a day off on May 1 but others have not.

Nativo Lopez, the president of the Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana said at a recent Los Angeles press conference that he respected students who stage school walkouts, adding the "best education" young people could receive is to march in the streets for their rights and justice. Lopez said the new movement is following in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Pressed by journalists about the possible firings of workers who participate in the protests, Lopez chided some reporters for having a “patronizing” attitude and ignoring the ongoing firings of workers he said his organization has spoken out against for 50 years.

In many ways taken off guard by the mass upsurge of protests, longtime pro-immigrant personalities and organizations now confront backlashes and racist threats from what is appearing to be a systematic campaign of intimidation. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating immigration-linked death threats to Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa, California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and other officials.

In addition, Joel Magallan, the director of the Tepeyac Association, a leading immigrant advocacy organization in New York City , has reported receiving anonymous threats on his cell phone. In San Diego County , a recent fire at a local bar is suspected of being the work of anti-immigrant forces; the FBI reports more than 2,500 hate crimes against Latinos in the United States since 2000.

Mexico Mobilizes

In Mexico , what began as a vague appeal for cross-border solidarity on the Internet is snowballing into a movement as well. In various parts of the country, labor unions, regional and local business groups and ex-bracero associations are supporting a one-day boycott of US products and businesses. "For me, the protest serves a double purpose: I get to support the immigrants and I also get to express my slightly anti-Yankee sentiments," said Mexico City cafe owner Joaquin Garcia Nava.

As in the United States , the Roman Catholic Church is adding legitimacy, voice and presence to the movement. The bishops of the border cities of Ciudad Juarez , Tijuana , Mexicali , Nogales , Reynosa , Nuevo Laredo , and Piedras Negras have all endorsed the May 1 action.

Still, "The Great American Boycott" spotlights class and political differences in Mexico over how to advance the legalization agenda in the United States . Clearly concerned about the impact of mass actions in Washington , the Fox Administration is quietly telling US Latino leaders to take a moderate approach. Sonora Governor Eduardo Bours, the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City , and the Mexican Franchise Association, an organization that represents Mexican owners of US brand franchises, all oppose a boycott as either misguided or ineffective while the Mexican employers' association, Coparmex, has declared neutrality. "Coparmex will not take any position in reference to the protest," said Coparmex President Alberto Nunez Estrada, "but let each one of our affiliates make the corresponding decision, because there are pros and cons."

Economic statistics hint at the potential impact of a Mexican consumer boycott. McDonald's and Burger King, for example, count 330 and 155 establishments, respectively, in Mexico . Chihuahua consumers are estimated to spend approximately $5 billion dollars every year in neighboring Texas .

Meanwhile, class schisms are also surfacing in the US movement. In Los Angeles , Spanish-language media which were so instrumental in promoting mass protests on March 25 and April 10 are noticeably shying away from boycott actions. One employee of the Los Angeles Univision television affiliate, who preferred to remain anonymous, said supervisors have actually prohibited station employees from using the word "boycott" because it could negatively affect the station's advertisers.

The Minutemen are Back

Hoping not to not politically outflanked, anti-legalization forces in the United States are also mobilizing. In Dallas , the scene of a massive pro-immigrant protest on April 10 that drew perhaps 500,000 people, the city's Citizens for Immigration Reform is asking sympathizers to do extra shopping on May 1. "We're telling our members if you have a big-ticket item that you want to purchase, wait till May 1 to shop," said Jean Towell, a spokeswoman for the group.

The Minuteman Project plans to stage a cross-country caravan commencing on May 3 in California and culminating on May 12 Washington, D.C. Among other stops, the caravan will pass through Phoenix , Albuquerque and Atlanta , cities with large, active pro-immigrant movements. "Congress doesn't want to hear us," contended Minuteman leader Jim Gilchrist. "We're going to have our voice heard." The group picketed outside a southern California hotel where President Bush stayed on his recent visit to the Golden state. Later next month, Minutemen vow to erect double 15-foot high fences flanked by moats on private lands in Arizona .

The May Day actions in Mexico and the United States will happen when the US Senate is expected to revisit immigration legislation proposals after a two-week break. All eyes will then shift to Capitol Hill, where President Bush is likely to weigh in on the debate. Speaking in Irvine , California , President Bush said this week it is not practical to deport millions of people. Leaning toward the immigration reform bill that will be considered in the Senate, President Bush said he supports a guest worker program.

Sources: El Imparcial ( Hermosillo ), April 24, 2006 . Article by Luis Alberto Medina. Proceso/Apro, April 24, 2006 . Article by Enriqueta Cabrera. Univision, April 18, 21 , 24, 25, 2006. El Universal, April 22, 2006 . Article by Aida Ulloa, Humberto Nino and Jose Manuel Arteaga. KUNM-FM/NPR/Latino USA/Democracy Now!, April 21 and 24, 2006. La Jornada, April 21, 22 and 23, 2006. Articles by Ruben Villalpando, Nelda Judith Anzar, Susana Gonzalez G., the Notimex News Agency, and editorial staff. Dallas Morning News, April 21, 2006 . Article by Dianne Solis and Alfredo Cochado. Common Dreams News Center/Financial Times ( London ), April 20, 2006 . Article by Adam Thomson. La Voz de Nuevo Mexico /EFE, April 20, 2006 . El Diario de Juarez/Notimex, April 20, 2006 . Articles by Jose Romero Mata and editorial staff. La Opinion ( Los Angeles ), April 19, 2006 . Article by Yurina Rico.

New Deportation Numbers Quoted

A high-ranking Mexican official has revealed more statistics about the number of Mexicans deported last year from the United States . Speaking at a United Nations sponsored event in Mexico City this week, Lauro Lopez Sanchez, an assistant secretary of the Interior Ministry, said 850,000 Mexicans were deported from the United States in 2005. According to Lopez, 350,000 of the 1,200,000 Mexicans who attempted to illegally cross into the US last year managed to reach their destination. Lopez characterized the migrant flow as a permanent transfer of "labor and talent." Other estimates of the number of undocumented Mexicans who migrate each year to the United States are higher, ranging as high as 600,000 or more.

In 2005, Lopez said Mexican immigration authorities deported 250,000 foreign nationals from Mexican territory, most of whom were Central Americans. The Mexican official said another 100,000 Central Americans slipped through his nation's territory without being detained.

In his presentation at the UN meet, Lopez called for greater international cooperation in curbing human trafficking and regulating labor flows. He proposed updating legal codes, strengthening the fight against criminal organizations and supporting guestworker programs as much as possible. "The Mexican experience has a lot to contribute to the debate about international migration," Lopez said.

Source: Proceso/Apro, April 6, 2006. Article by Jenaro Villamil.

Latin America Border Series: The Century of the Woman Migrant

Families in Mexico and other parts of Latin America once waited for money to arrive from their husbands or sons working in the United States . Nowadays they are more likely to be getting cash from their mothers or daughters. According to Laura Velasco Ortiz, a researcher with Tijuana's Colegio de la Frontera Norte, more than 60 percent of the estimated $20 billion dollars in remittances received by Mexico are now sent by women as opposed to about 39 percent sent by men. The pivotal position of women in the migrant economy is even more important than their numbers suggest. Figures from Mexico 's National Women's Institute report that half of the 600,000 Mexicans who emigrate each year are women. The number is higher than other estimates that place the number of people who leave Mexico each year between 400,000-500,000 individuals.

Enlisting in the undocumented workforce, women are exposed to the dangers of crossing the US-Mexico border illegally. As a coping strategy, Velasco said women who successfully cross the border, some traveling alone, tend to remain longer in the US than men. Mary Galvan, a social worker at the Mother Assunta Migrant House in Tijuana, said in a recent interview that women accounted for 25 percent of the nearly 4,000 migrants who died while attempting to cross the US-Mexico border since the implementation of Operation Guardian in 1994. Galvan said the actual percentage of female victims could be higher because not all bodies of victims are found.

The surge in Mexican women migrants is part of an international trend. According to the Santiago , Chile-based Latin American Center of Demography, women make up 50 percent of international migrants. In Latin America , women crossing borders for new lives is a widespread tendency. While Mexican women head for the US , Central American and Caribbean women seek new homes in Costa Rica . In South America , Chile is a magnet nation for other nationalities. In addition to the United States , Latin American women are relocating to Spain , Japan , Canada and the United Kingdom . Most of the new migrants are young, some are mothers and a majority is poor.

"The incorporation of women into the paid workforce is one of the factors that's contributing to the growing phenomenon of the international feminization of migration," said Patricia Cortes, the author of an immigration study for the Latin American Center of Demography.

Besides fleeing poverty, women migrate to escape sexual and domestic violence, armed conflicts and environmental destruction. Cortes found that the most successful women migrants were young singles with professional preparation who search for "a better future" while desiring to know the world.

Noting that migration frees women from traditional patterns of subordination, Cortes said it also leaves them vulnerable to new forms of exploitation and human rights violations. Cortes contended that the feminization of international migration demands the strengthening of human rights guarantees to address the "double vulnerability" women confront as migrants and women.

Sources: El Universal, March 6, 2006. Articles by Julieta Martinez. El Diario de El Paso/Notimex, February 23, 2006.

Shelters See More Minor Deportees

A Mexican government agency that assists indigent children and families reports a spike in cases of unaccompanied minors deported from the United States in the Sonora-Arizona border region. Flor Ayala Robles Linares, the director of the Integral Family Development (DIF) agency in Sonora , said in a recent interview that shelters in three Sonora border cities took in more than 600 minors last month. The minors were helped at state and municipal shelters located in San Luis Rio Colorado , Nogales and Agua Prieta. Ayala said minor assistance needs are especially great in Sonora and neighboring Baja California .

"There aren't many (minor deportees) in Chihuahua and Coahuila," Ayala said. " Baja California and Sonora account for 80 percent of the repatriations." According to Ayala, getting the children back home frequently poses a challenge. Nonetheless, she said about 98 percent of minors attended by the Sonora DIF last year were successfully placed with relatives.

"We haven't failed in returning them," Ayala said, "due to the assistance of the state DIF, which has helped us find the families of the children. Sometimes it takes us 3 or 4 weeks, but we manage to locate the relatives."

In 2005, the Sonora DIF served 6,700 minors. Ayala said her agency plans to set up a mobile home this year in Agua Prieta in order to better serve minor repatriates.