Thread: Mexicans Say Nothing Will Halt Migrants

http://www.heraldsun.com/nationworld/in ... 36165.html


Mexicans Say Nothing Will Halt Migrants

By MARK STEVENSON : Associated Press Writer
May 18, 2006 : 10:09 pm ET

NOGALES, Mexico -- Mexicans say it will take more than three layers of fence and 6,000 National Guard troops to keep them out of the United States.

As President Bush visited the stretch of Arizona desert Thursday that serves as a cactus-studded freeway for thousands of undocumented migrants, those preparing to make the perilous trip said they will find a way around almost any obstacle.

"We'll go under it, we'll go over it, we'll go through the air, the sea or the earth, but they're never going to stop us from crossing," said Jesus Santana, a Tijuana truck driver who was caught trying to cross and deported.

Increased security will likely only serve to make smuggling fees more expensive and drive immigrants deeper into debt, making them even more desperate to make it north.

As a tired, bedraggled column of deportees filed across a Nogales border bridge Thursday -- just as Bush was giving a speech on border security west of here -- some migrants were already furiously dialing cell phones to contact immigrant smugglers for their next attempt.

"Of course we'll cross again. We're just waiting for them to come and pick us up," said Javier Torres, 22, of Cuiliacan, Sinaloa. Just 100 yards away, vans of the kind used by smugglers waited under an underpass to pick up groups of deportees.

The deportees were greeted on the Mexican side by Martin Doriane, who for the last four years has surveyed returning migrants for the Colegio de la Frontera Norte.

Doraine says at least 95 percent of migrants caught and deported say they'll try again, in part because they've sold everything they own in Mexico to pay increasingly expensive and sophisticated smuggling efforts to overcome tightened border security.

"They say, 'I had a roof and a frying pan in Mexico, but I sold both to come north, and went into debt, so what do I have to return to?'" Doraine said.

One of the deportees, Maria del Carmen Valadez, brought her 12-year-old son, Julio Cesar Castaneda, on the dangerous two-day trek through the desert. The boy hungrily ate a taco Doriane gave him as his mother acknowledged "it is a risk" to bring a child on such a dangerous trip.

"I did it to give him a different life," said Valadez, of Fresnillo in Zacatecas in northern Mexico. She said she'll probably try to cross again, because in her home town, "there's nothing but poverty."

That sense of desperation -- and determination -- is everywhere.

On Monday, a detained woman told agents she had left her 3-year-old son dead in the desert.

The proposed 370 miles of triple-layer fencing, approved by the Senate Wednesday, as well as Bush's plan to send National Guard troops to play supporting roles in border enforcement have raised tempers and tensions here.

"Somebody is going to start shooting, and then there will be problems between the two countries," predicted Santana, the Tijuana truck driver.

Mexico's government has expressed concern about the wall and National Guard proposals, saying they aren't the way to solve problems of border security and illegal migration north.

"Most countries want to bring their people together and tear down physical, commercial and cultural barriers," presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Thursday. "Anyone who proposes separating them is out of line. Walls are a sign of distrust, and that will never be the basis of a good friendship between two countries."

The Senate measure includes provisions that would give some undocumented immigrants a path toward citizenship and allow more people to work temporarily in the United States.

But Santana said he saw no advances in the sweeping reform package.

"There will always be more people wanting to come," he said. "It will always be like this."

Husband had two words when I read this to him.

"Bet me"

Then we'll just keep catching them, sending them back and/or arresting them. I can't help it if the smugglers do the same despicable acts American gas stations do during disasters, take advantage and gouge. Really simple equation: no demand, no supply. Stop using coyotes, they go into a different busi-- uh, crime.

Desperate people do desperate things - but that doesn't mean a thing desperate has to be done. Deperate acts are illogical, emotional and usually end in more desperation or disaster.

I feel for them, and I want to help anyone in need. But I can carry only so many people on my back. These days, I can't carry anyone else, I have no medical insurance. When I can help someone else, I get to decide who it will be - and I pick someone here legally. There are plenty who are here legally who need my help.

""We'll go under it, we'll go over it, we'll go through the air, the sea or the earth, but they're never going to stop us from crossing," said Jesus Santana, a Tijuana truck driver who was caught trying to cross and deported. "


One question for you, would a decent job, a non-corrupt government and civil rights in Mexico keep you from coming to the US?

That's how bad it is in Mexcio, what a wonderful gauge. 20 million hard earned votes on how bad it is to live in Mexico, the richest country in Latin America.

feel for them, and I want to help anyone in need. But I can carry only so many people on my back

Exactly.. I was raised to help. Always to believe if there was an extra piece of bread and gravy you were better off. But I got to counting slices of bologna to determine my kids lunches. There wasn't snacks or midnight fridge raids. There isn't extra anymore. I know I smile and pretend all is well but it really is just for today. There isn't that security that tomorrow will be too.

After all that has happened and is happening, I have lost any desire to be compassionate. There is the saying: Charity begins at home.

America is our home. Charity towards ouselves is not a bad idea in my humble opinion. If things keep going the way they are, sooner or later, we won't have any home.

I agree, we are getting poorer and poorer with the high cost of living that we do not have the disposable income we had in previous years, now we have none.

Originally Posted by breezy

After all that has happened and is happening, I have lost any desire to be compassionate. There is the saying: Charity begins at home.

America is our home. Charity towards ouselves is not a bad idea in my humble opinion. If things keep going the way they are, sooner or later, we won't have any home.

I agree. Listening to all these elite politicians just sends me into orbit. What about the poor people here in search of a better life? What about the homeless and the unemployed? We can take care of every charity case around the world, but don't take care of our own.

Mexicans Say Nothing Will Halt Migrants

I bet a few [mod edit] to some would be invaders crossing the border would. Hey it might sound harsh, but when it comes to our nations defense, it's either us or them and I'd be damned if it's us. Of course since our worthless government has let this go on for so damn long that if we did that, we'd have to use marshall law just to expel the 30 million invaders by force. If we had a real president, Mexico city would have been [mod edit] the map by now.

"We'll go under it, we'll go over it, we'll go through the air, the sea or the earth, but they're never going to stop us from crossing," said Jesus Santana, a Tijuana truck driver who was caught trying to cross and deported.

A pretty lame statement by someone who was just caught and deported.