Immigration Politics: GOP hopeful faces immigration bind

GOP hopeful faces immigration bind POLITICO.com: " New Mexico's Susana Martinez is conservative, Hispanic and the favorite to become governor of a key swing state this fall. But she is dodging the most volatile and important issue to the conservative base in the southwestern U.S.: immigration. While other Republican governors are racing to copy Arizona's toughest-in-the-country immigration law, Martinez has expressed only tepid support for it." Sept. 3, 2010

Immigration Reality vs. Madness: 'Birth tourism' a tiny portion of immigrant babies

'Birth tourism' a tiny portion of immigrant babies: "Princeton University demographer Douglas Massey said in 30 years studying Mexican immigration, he's never interviewed a migrant who said they came to the United States just to get citizenship for their children. 'Mexicans do not come to have babies in the United States,' said Massey. He blames the tightening of the border in the 1990s for cutting off normal migration of men who used to come to work for a year or two and then go home. 'They end up having babies in the United States because men can no longer circulate freely back and forth from homes in Mexico to jobs in the United States and husbands and wives quite understandably want to be together.'" Sept. 3, 2010, AP

Whack-a-mole: President Calderon says crackdown on organized crime is working

Well, here is the official, presidential point of view on the "whack-a,mole" drug war strategy.

President Calderon says crackdown on organized crime is working: In his state of the nation report, President Felipe Calderon notes the arrests or killings of drug kingpins and efforts to clean up police. He also touts job gains and other economic improvements." Sept. 2, 2010, LA Times

Immigration Crackdown: Reform or More Masssacres

Here is a link to an English translation of a column by Jorge Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico and an author and columnist who writes, both in Mexican and U.S. publications, about political issues in Mexico. The column proposes a link between U.S. immigration law, the illegal drug trade resulting from U.S. prohibition and the massacre of the 72 undocumented migrants in Tamaulipas. It actually parallels the New York Times editorial recently posted on this blog.

Immigration Reform or More Massacres: Beginning with the closing of the border, starting in 2005, and ... with the defeat of comprehensive immigration reform in 2006 and 2007, and now with the passivity of Obama in this regard, it has become much more difficult to get into the United States without papers - not impossible, just more expensive.

With the increasing risk, the price goes up; the business becomes more lucrative. And with its transformation into a more attractive business, it attracts more and more criminals. It is exactly the same phenomenon that happens with drug trafficking, according to my friend and former Salvadoran guerrilla commander Facundo Guardado. He believes that the persecution of drug trafficking only makes the business more attractive and more people want to participate .

When the business of smuggler or coyote turns hyper-lucrative, criminal gangs not only want it, they are fighting over the routes, points of entry and exit, transport and the corruption of Mexican and North American officials. Surely, in one way or another, the explanation for the slaughter of San Fernando lies in this process. 

Sept. 2, 2010, column by Jorge Castañeda, La Reforma

Collateral Damage: Grief Across Latin America for Migrant Killings

Another protrait of the dangerous realities experienced by Central American migrants traveling through Mexico trying to reach the U.S..

Grief Across Latin America for Migrant Killings: "Despite all the hardships and perils that stand before them — a raging drug war in Mexico, walls, border agents, National Guard troops, anti-immigrant fervor and a fragile economy if they even make it — they still come.

And they still die, often in the deserts of the Southwest, sometimes at the hands of thieves and kidnappers and now, in a startling twist, apparently at the hands of a drug gang seeking money or possibly recruits..." Sept. 1, 2010, NY Times

Collateral Damage: Mexico Massacre Galvanises Migrant Rights Activists

This article provides a good over-view of the severe dangers faced by Central American migrants traveling though Mexico and the work of several NGO's to assist them. 

Mexico Massacre Galvanises Migrant Rights Activists: "Activists in Latin America have been galvanised by atrocities like the recent massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border to step up their efforts on behalf of migrant rights.


An estimated 500,000 undocumented Latin American migrants a year cross Mexico from south to north, through the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tamaulipas, in their attempt to reach the United States. On the way, they are beset from all sides, facing abuses from corrupt police, predatory youth gangs, drug traffickers and kidnappers. 


'We want to create a common front among non-governmental organisations (NGOs), migrant shelters, and rights defenders to create a system that helps migrants identify the most dangerous areas and understand the way organised crime groups operate, so they can avoid them,' Mexican activist Ruben Figueroa told IPS.  


The alliance of NGOs is seeking to influence the Regional Conference on Migration, "to raise awareness about this being a regional phenomenon, not a problem of each particular country. And that all governments have to work together to manage the phenomenon of migration," The Regional Conference on Migration, an intergovernmental body that links 11 countries -- Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States -- emerged in 1996 to promote dialogue and cooperation on international migration in a context of economic and social development." Sept. 1, 2010, InterPress Service

Immigration Crackdown: U.S. Unauthorized Immigration Flows Are Down Sharply Since Mid-Decade

U.S. Unauthorized Immigration Flows Are Down Sharply Since Mid-Decade : "The annual inflow of unauthorized immigrants to the United States was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005, according to new estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center.

This sharp decline has contributed to an overall reduction of 8% in the number of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the U.S.-to 11.1 million in March 2009 from a peak of 12 million in March 2007, according to the estimates." Sept. 1, 2010, Pew Hispanic Center