For migrants passing through Mexico, full detention centers often mean they are set free
After two months of dodging thieves and thundering trains during the perilous journey from Honduras, Marco Antonio Vasquez has finally reached the Rio Grande.
Now plotting his next move, the 26-year-old displaced factory worker sits on the steps of a Reynosa church and worries aloud that, if the Border Patrol catches him, he’ll be deported and his hopes of finding a job in Houston will be dashed.
What he may or may not realize is that he would likely be freed in Texas, even after American agents stop him, because there isn’t enough jail space to hold him.
More than 47,600 illegal border crossers from “countries other than Mexico,” so called OTMs, have been caught in South Texas this year. But 42,000, or more than 88 percent, have been promptly released and most have simply melted into society, failing to show up for required immigration court hearings, according to the Texas governor’s office.
Alarmed that OTMs from not only Central America but also such nations as Syria, Yemen and Iraq are being freed, Texas lawmakers last year demanded that the Bush administration do something.
More: chron.com
México prepares for voting by holiday visitors
Mexican authorities are setting up special voter registration centers for Mexicans who live abroad but return to their home country for the holidays, as part of the first mass effort to distribute absentee ballots for presidential elections, officials said last Wednesday.
The 15 centers will be located mainly in border cities, as well as in three main urban centers -- México City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
The Federal Electoral Institute has already opened the first two centers in the border city of Mexicali and in Guadalajara, and plan to have the others up and running soon.
The
Short on trucks, GM gears up in Mexico
With its employee-pricing sale over, General Motors Corp. is turning to its Mexican factories to replenish the stocks of American auto dealers.
"We're short on trucks. Dealers don't have them in all the colors and with all the options that people want," said Gilbert Duhn, a customs manager for the company. "We've started building more trucks in Mexico."
Such a move wouldn't be possible without the North American Free Trade Agreement, Duhn said during a speech at the NAFTA vs. Global Competition conference here, which ended Friday. The two-day event was hosted by
Mexico should enact immigration reform
MEXI-CO President Vicente Fox has spent much of his international political capital fighting the U.S. House bill passed last December that proposes felon status for illegal immigrants in the United States.
Too bad illegal immigrants in his own land - mostly Central American migrants on their way to the United States - are already treated as criminals. Under a 32-year-old Mexican law, people who have crossed into Mexico illegally can be penalized with two to five years in prison, although the punishment is rarely imposed.
Three legislators, all members of Foxs National Action Party, are working
Arrested Migrants Repatriated Deep Into Mexico
In 2004, 1.1 million undocumented workers were apprehended at the US-Mexico border, according to researchers at UC Davis. This year the number is likely to be at least the same or possibly even higher. Once apprehended, migrants are deported to Mexico, typically near the border.
In an effort to discourage these people from crossing again, the US and Mexican governments recently began a new program which repatriates apprehended migrants deep into Mexican territory, near the towns where they came from.
Those apprehended and wishing to participate in the new program are given a one-way plane ticket to
Most migrants had jobs in Mexico, survey finds
A new survey of migrant Mexicans shatters the myth they are largely unemployed farmworkers who struggle to pick up jobs on street corners.
Only 5 percent of the most recent migrants were unemployed before they crossed the border, and only an equal percentage remained unemployed within six months of crossing, the survey found.
Newer migrants were just as likely to have worked in construction zones and hotels than in the fields, the survey found.
The findings released today by the Pew Hispanic Center based on questionnaires in Spanish filled out by 4,836 persons
Mexico: 51% of poll respondents think Hugo Chavez is to blame for the rift
Many adults in Mexico believe the Venezuelan President is responsible for the recent spat between the two countries, according to a poll by Milenio ... 51% of respondents think Hugo Chavez is to blame for the rift.
Conversely, 22% of respondents say Mexican president Vicente Fox is responsible.
The problems began earlier this month during the Summit of the Americas in Argentina. Chavez expressed displeasure with the proposed region-wide free trade agreement backed by the United States. Chavez favors the exclusively South American free trade zone, known as Mercosur,
Airlines flock to Mexico
Lured by a growing tourist trade and hopes of generous profits, U.S. airlines are taking a new look at an old destination — Mexico.
Full-fare operators including Delta Air Lines Inc. and Alaska Airlines, as well as discounters such as Frontier Airlines and JetBlue, are thirsting for more flights to cities and towns south of the border. The destinations include resorts and business centers, and much of the service will originate from Southern California — particularly Los Angeles International Airport.
Mexico has long been a popular market for both U.S. and Mexican carriers. The nation is by far
Alianza Francesa Valle (The French Alliance) : Monterrey
The French Alliance is the only institution recognized by the French government. It is Center of examinations of the French Ministry of National Education and has academic agreements with the COMPLEXION of Monterrey Campus, prepa COMPLEXION Garza Sada, prepa Complexion Garza Lagüera, prepa COMPLEXION Summits, prepa COMPLEXION Santa Catarina, the Udem, the UANL, the SEP, the Institute San Roberto, the Anglian-French Grammar school, the CECVAC, the Irish School, the Grammar school of Monterrey, the Institute Regiomontano de Hoteleria, the Free Faculty of Right, the School Cambridge, Art AC, the New generation Institute and
Mexico Readies First-Ever Absentee Ballot
Mexico Launches Effort to Register Migrants for First-Ever Absentee Balloting
A small army of electoral workers carrying absentee ballot registration forms was deployed Wednesday in airports, land crossings and customs checkpoints along Mexico's border with the United States.
Their mission is to get the thousands of migrants returning home for the holidays to register for the nation's first absentee ballot. Votes from millions of Mexicans living abroad, mostly in the United States, could swing July's presidential election.
Some Mexican migrants in the United States, however, complain a lack of information has made registration confusing and difficult. Many
Mexico Urges US to Improve Cross-Border Security
Mexican migration experts are urging the Bush administration to press ahead with a temporary migrant worker program to improve cross-border security and save the lives of hundreds of people who are dying in their attempts to cross illegally into the United States.
U.S. border control statistics indicate that from January to the end of September this year, 464 people died while illegally attempting to cross the border between Mexico and the United States. That is an increase of 43 percent from the previous year.
A heat wave during August is partly to blame for some
