Thread: As Crime Grows in Mexico, More People Flee to Texas

As crime grows in Mexico, more people flee to Texas

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, October 4, 2009

By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com

PABELLON DE ARTEAGA, Mexico – A peculiar smell lingers at the pink and white home near City Hall: burnt candles lighted hours earlier to pray for the safe return of the latest kidnapping victim.

Two other families living nearby in this quiet community of 30,000 find themselves in similar circumstances, awaiting word from missing loved ones – or their kidnappers.

"If this community isn't safe," said Raquel Ruvalcaba, administrator at a local cultural center, "then things are bad in Mexico, real bad."

If anyplace should be safe from the extortions, kidnappings and killings that have gripped this troubled nation, it is the state of Aguascalientes, population of less than 1 million, and its once-quiet communities such as Pabellon de Arteaga.

But now the state is being afflicted with the same kind of crime and insecurity that other parts of Mexico – such as the border with Texas – have lived with for years, a result of the growing reach of drug cartels and the success of anti-drug efforts elsewhere, authorities say. The instability has led to an increase in out-migration, and North Texas is a favored destination.

Over the years, the central state of Aguascalientes, known as Mexico's Rhode Island because of its small size, has gained a reputation for having the best quality of life and safest neighborhoods – "rich in culture and rich in boredom, the good kind," quipped Irma Carrillo, an education professor at the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes.

But in the last couple of years, residents say, a steady stream of people from Pabellon and nearby communities, including the city of Aguascalientes, have fled for other parts of Mexico or the United States, particularly Texas.

About 200 residents of Aguascalientes, which means Hot Springs, now call the North Texas area home, and about half have arrived in the past two years, according to Miriam Carrillo, sister of Irma and president of Club de Migrantes Juntos Por Pabellon, an immigrant hometown association.

But there's a poignant difference between the new arrivals and those who came years ago.

"These are people who feel obligated to leave Mexico" because of the crime, said Miriam Carrillo. "These are the people who used to create jobs back home."

With the United States putting more pressure on smuggling routes along the Gulf Coast in recent years, drug smugglers have rerouted cocaine and marijuana shipments to the Pacific Coast, particularly through the southern state of Guerrero and the northwestern states of Michoacán and Jalisco, said Arturo Islas, an expert on national security issues.

That shift has led to a sharp increase in violence in those areas, and has put Aguascalientes – with easy access to Texas by way of El Paso and Laredo – squarely in the path of the rerouted contraband.

To finance their operations, drug traffickers have turned this once-tranquil industrious region into a haven of kidnappings, extortions and killings. Drug trafficking crimes rose from 157 in 2005 to 602 in 2007, a 127 percent increase, according to a study by Islas.

"Aguascalientes is an example of why the two governments need to be in constant communications, because any change in policy can lead to unintended consequences," said Islas, adding that the actual crime numbers are probably much higher since many Mexicans don't report crimes to a tainted police force.

"The violent killings we're seeing in this region are indicators of the presence of drug traffickers in and around Aguascalientes," Islas said.

Pabellon de Arteaga, proud of its wide avenues and the beauty of the surrounding countryside, is a city of "professional commuters," with doctors, teachers, lawyers and engineers traveling daily to jobs in Aguascalientes, the state capital, about 20 minutes away.

"This region has rivers, beauty, scenic areas second to none," said Mario Molina, the town's unofficial historian and tourism promoter. "The potential here is unlimited, but unfortunately the tranquility around here is being tested."

Few know this better than North Texas residents who send their children for annual visits to their home state.

For the past few summers, Fatima Cardona of Irving, a 24-year-old single mother of three, has driven the 18 hours to bring her children and younger brother to Pabellon, part of an effort by Mexican-Americans to help their younger siblings and children recapture their Mexican roots, culture and language during school summer breaks.

Now she locks her children behind closed doors and grows weary from the stories of fear and kidnapping around her: A mechanic who lived nearby left Pabellon after thugs kidnapped him and extorted an undermined amount of cash. Nearby, a grocery store owner also left town for an unknown place.

And the pink and white house, with its burning candles, is just the latest reminder that Mexico's problems, once isolated to the big cities or border towns, have arrived here, too.

"Before, it was very quiet and we trusted everyone, but not anymore," Cardona said. "I will breathe a sigh of relief when I cross into Texas again."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... a75d6.html

My apologies if this has already been posted, especially since it is an older story. I did a search without result.

"Before, it was very quiet and we trusted everyone, but not anymore," Cardona said. "I will breathe a sigh of relief when I cross into Texas again."

First, are you an American or just a Mexican interloper? Second, why the crap would any mother take her children to a place of violence?

AGAIN, The south of the Border ILLEGAL invaders are moving North along with their "family values" our past President often proudly stated. Again and again he stated the U.S. was lucky that the ILLEGALS didn't leave their family values south of the Border while they continue to invade the United States. Of course he failed to mention all of the murders, drugs, rapes and various other values the ILLEGAL invasion would produce. The violence will scurry North into our Nation the same as the ILLEGAL invaders have been successful in accomplishing; but not to worry the Special Interest Groups and Political Contributors will continue to prosper with their cheap labor furnished to the ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS by the ILLEGAL invaders.

We are being invaded. Put the military on the border NOW!!!

For the past few summers, Fatima Cardona of Irving, a 24-year-old single mother of three, has driven the 18 hours to bring her children and younger brother to Pabellon, part of an effort by Mexican-Americans to help their younger siblings and children recapture their Mexican roots, culture and language during school summer breaks.

Assimilation?