“During the first six months of the year, at least one hundred Mexicans have died in their attempt to illegally enter the United States, while in the same period 2016, the number of fatal victims was two thousand”, Migrant Agenda coordinator Eunice Rendón reported.
In an interview with Notimex, she said that the upsurge of anti-immigrant policy by the administration of US President Donald Trump has reduced attempts to enter that nation by 70 percent, but increased costs and risks for the remaining 30 percent.
This is so, since the “quotas” that must be paid to “polleros” and organized crime groups in order to cross the border and have protection during this difficult journey have increased considerably. Such was the case of the lamentable events of the “Texas Truck Tragedy” in San Antonio, where the migrants paid up to $30,000 USD each.
And those who do not have the full amount, who are the majority of undocumented migrants, are hired in companies where they are monitored and must stay for up to a year or more until they settle the debt they have with the “polleros” and “Los Zetas“.
Number of deaths from migrants trying to cross Mexico-U.S. border goes down (Photo: El Horizonte)
“Today as Trump’s security measures tighten the border (as happened with 9-11), it makes the business more attractive — because of the risks involved in moving to the other side — for organized crime groups like the “Zetas” or other delinquency groups”, she continued.
“In that sense, migrants, in addition to exposing themselves to the risks of traveling in inhumane conditions, are trafficked, abused and enslaved”.
“In summary, there is a whole network of corruption that involves not only authorities on both sides of the border, but also organized crime, which highlights the importance of the Mexican government monitoring and requiring the United States to investigate how this situation continues to carry on, despite the high security measures recently adopted by American authorities”.
“Today they are charging up to 30 thousand dollars a person for crossing the border, which of course these peole do not have, so this is a kind of slavery, trafficking and abuse,” she said.
Rendón Cardenas stated that in the Texas Truck Tragedy case, the driver is not the only one responsible and the solution is not only to “put him in jail”, but authorities on both sides of the border must see this as a shared problem.
“Today because of the misfortune and how it happened, we know the subject (Texas) and it is visible, but it is every day, in addition in recent years the deaths of Mexicans in their attempt to go to the United States have increased almost 90 percent,” he noted.
In 2016, “it is estimated that 1,073 died just in Arizona, which is the place where the people die the most, especially in the desert across Pima County. The second place with the most deaths is Texas, with 822; and California with 143,” she added.
Eunice Rendón Cárdenas pointed out that of the more than 12 million Mexicans who live in the United States, 5.7 million have no legal documents; 40 percent of them are believed to have arrived in the U.S. on a visa and decided to stay, the remaining 60 percent are people who crossed the border illegally to enter the country.
Source: http://www.elhorizonte.mx/
