Thread: Activists to provide migrants Ariz. maps

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... rmaps.html

Activists to provide migrants Ariz. maps
Safe routes, stations for water included

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Jan. 24, 2006 12:00 AM

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's human rights agency says it will give out detailed maps of the Arizona desert, including rescue beacons and water stations, to guide migrants safely through the most popular and deadliest corridor into the United States.

The maps were designed by a Tucson-based group, Humane Borders, which plans to hold a joint press conference today with the National Human Rights Commission in Mexico City to announce its strategy.

The maps are the latest effort by activists to aid undocumented immigrants as they trek across the border, helping to fuel a raging debate over illegal immigration in Arizona and other parts of the United States.

Two rights commission officials confirmed the quasi-governmental agency had agreed to print and distribute the maps through its state offices to reach Mexican migrants before they ever leave their hometowns. It has not decided how many copies to print or how much it will spend on the project, the officials told The Republic.

They spoke on condition of anonymity pending the official announcement today. Officials in President Vicente Fox's office said Monday that they were unaware of the project and had no immediate comment. The Mexican Foreign Ministry said it would not be involved in distributing the maps.

The plan's proponents say they are trying to prevent deaths, and they deny the maps encourage people to cross.

"This is good information, and it will save lives," said Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Humane Borders.

But border-control advocates say they fear the maps could embolden people to make the trek.

"I'm afraid that maps and water jugs do nothing but give illegal crossers false hope," Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth, a Republican, said in a written statement. "Either we convince potential crossers not to make the journey or, failing that, we stop them from crossing the border."

Last year, the Mexican government outraged border-control activists in the United States by publishing a comic book containing safety tips for illegal immigrants. Soon afterward, the southeastern state of Yucatán published its own guide containing detailed information on routes through the desert.

Arizona has become the most traveled corridor for Mexicans trying to enter the United States illegally. Border Patrol agents in Arizona caught more than 577,000 undocumented migrants, most of them Mexicans, during the 2005 fiscal year. At least 279 immigrants attempting to cross the desert died during that time.

Humane Borders has produced maps for each of the four main corridors through Arizona: Douglas, Lukeville, Sasabe and Nogales.

The maps show mountains, roads, railroads and cities. Blue flags show where migrant-aid groups have left water tanks in the desert. Blue stars indicate Border Patrol rescue beacons where migrants can push a button to summon help.

Black lines show how far a migrant can expect to get walking one, two or three days.

The maps use red dots to show where migrants have died during the past four years. Humane Borders used data from the Border Patrol, medical examiners and other agencies to pinpoint each death.

At the top of each map, a bar graph shows the number of deaths during each month of the year. At the bottom are several tips including:

"Go with people you know and trust."

"Don't cross the desert between May and August, because the temperatures are very high."

"Bring enough water and food."

"Know your route well and the distance well before starting."

"Look for tanks of water in the desert that are marked with blue flags."

Large letters say "Don't go! There's not enough water! It's not worth it!"

Future versions of the maps will include circles showing cellular telephone coverage, Hoover said.

In May, Humane Borders distributed a few maps in Sasabe, Sonora, just over the border in Mexico. But the group decided it needed to get the information farther south, to discourage potential migrants before they even leave their hometowns, Hoover said.

The Human Rights Commission pledged its support in December. The agency is technically independent of the Mexican government, but it is funded by Mexican taxpayers and operates under a government charter.

The effort is supported by Pima County, partly as an attempt to help alleviate the expense of dealing with hundreds of corpses found in the desert, said Enrique Serna, a deputy county administrator who accompanied Hoover to Mexico.

Pima County encompasses Tucson and some 115 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border.

Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe, a Republican, said he supports the maps as a way of saving lives. But the best way of keeping migrants from dying in the desert is by helping Mexico create jobs and reforming U.S. laws to better manage migration, he said.

"It's hard to disagree with giving information to your citizens to save their lives," Kolbe said. "Ideally, what I would prefer is that they hand out flyers saying {grave}You don't have to cross the desert because there are jobs in Mexico, and here is some job information.' But that isn't going to happen, because there aren't jobs in Mexico."

Critics of the maps said they don't do enough to emphasize the dangers, or the illegality, of crossing the border.

"If you want to tell people, {grave}Don't go,' then that's an entirely different handout. You don't give people a map," said Rick Oltman, western field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Message removed by author.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,182683,00.html

Mexican Government to Hand Out Arizona Maps to Migrants

Tuesday, January 24, 2006



MEXICO CITY â€â€

Can altered maps be used for deception? Example - maps altered in such a way as to mis-direct the illegals to go "south?" Hypothetically speaking, the presence of useless maps, made to look similar in makeup as the real ones, would cast suspicion upon the legitimacy of all maps.

By the same token....

Given that there are radio broadcasts (cited in another message thread) and other transmissions (whatever they may be) being used to guide illegals to unpatrolled crossing sites, could deceptive broadcasts or transmissions be used to mis-direct illegals to heavily patrolled areas?

Why not turn their sympathizers' strategies against the illegals?

I should clarify (what I'm suggesting) better, so as to not be misconstrued.

Whatever new strategy the illegal alien sympathizers decide to do in the future, when possible, look for ways to use deception and either confound what they're doing, or discredit what they're doing, or turn the strategy back against their effort. The key is to look for ways to employ deception.

Example: There was a message a while back that employers in a certain town decided to have illegals disburse so as to avoid the good guys at the weekend protest. I think it was that the illegals would phone their locations to the employers. A deception was suggested to have good guys phone in bogus info to employers (or something similiar).

May I also suggest that any new forms of deception that would inhibit employers' ability to connect with their beloved illegal employees would be most laudable and would certainly horrify and offend our esteemed elected officials in the beltway.

Do you think our government is smart enough to get a copy of this map, then use it to have border patrol agents waiting at the watering stations and pathways marked on the maps? The maps would then serve only as a path to the waiting arms of our border patrol. Sadly, I doubt that it will happen.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... olo25.html

Mexico distances itself from map project
Distribution date of March sticky for ties with U.S.

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Jan. 25, 2006 12:00 AM


MEXICO CITY - President Vicente Fox's government on Tuesday distanced itself from Mexico's National Human Rights Commission after the agency announced it will give at least 70,000 maps of the Arizona desert to potential migrants.

The commission said it will begin distributing the maps throughout Mexico beginning in March, a delicate time for U.S.-Mexican relations because the U.S. Senate is expected to soon begin debating immigration reforms that Fox has been championing.

"The National Human Rights Commission is an autonomous commission," Fox spokesman Rubén Aguilar said Tuesday after The Arizona Republic broke the news of the maps.

"(The commission) operates with funds that Congress assigns it, not with funds that the executive branch assigns it," Aguilar said. "Within that framework, it has decided to take this action."

The commission said it will distribute the full-color, poster-size maps through human rights offices, civic groups and migrant-affairs agencies in Mexican states. The posters were designed by a Tucson-based group, Humane Borders.

The four maps show the areas around Douglas, Lukeville, Sasabe and Nogales. They show landmarks such as mountains, highways and railroads, water stations and Border Patrol rescue beacons where migrants can summon help.

They also show where migrants have died over the past four years and indicate how much territory a migrant can expect to cover on foot each day. There are safety tips such as, "Use adequate clothing and boots or tennis shoes." A message at the bottom of each map urges, "Don't go! There's not enough water! It's not worth it!"

The purpose of the maps is to save lives, not to encourage border-crossers, said Mauricio Farah, assistant human rights commissioner for migrant affairs, during a news conference announcing the project.

"Many (migrants) don't know where to walk, they just head into the desert," he said. "We are not showing them a route so they can get in. . . . This is simply a warning of how many days it will take if they decide to go, the supplies they should take with them and where they can go to save their lives."

Mexico's Human Rights Commission has enormous influence. It has pushed for Mexico to investigate the "Dirty War" against government opponents in the 1960s and '70s, and last year it went toe to toe with Fox over efforts to impeach the mayor of Mexico City, a political rival. Fox eventually backed down.

Humane Borders had said it might also try to distribute the maps through Mexican consulates and Grupo Beta, Mexico's migrant protection force.

But on Monday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said its consulates would not participate in the project. Interior Minister Carlos Abascal, who oversees Grupo Beta, told The Republic he was unaware of the plan and could not comment on whether his agents would participate.

Last year, the Mexican government caused a furor in the United States by publishing a comic-book-style guide for migrants. The southeastern state of Yucatán produced an even more detailed guide.

Recently, the Mexican government has been trying to improve its U.S. image as Fox pushes for U.S. reforms that could legalize millions of Mexican migrants. The government has hired a Dallas public relations firm to help portray Mexico as a partner, not an adversary, on immigration issues.