This is an old article, but interesting. I didn't know Brazilians could just enter Mexico at will. I didn't know it was harder to deport Mexicans either.

http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=81737


The Associated Press, Aug. 17, 2005

BROWNSVILLE, Texas

Illegal immigrants from Brazil are finding it tougher to get into the United States and stay.

Officials on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are trying to cut down on the numbers.

On the U.S. side, officials have rediscovered an expedited immigrant removal program that can send immigrants from nations other than Mexico and Canada back home within two weeks.

In Mexico, officials are considering closing a loophole that allows Brazilians to enter the country without a visa or passport.

The immigrant removal program has been on the books for nine years but never used in the Rio Grande Valley until June. So far, the program has resulted in a 40 percent reduction of illegal immigration from Brazil, The Brownsville Herald reported in its Wednesday editions.

Before, immigrants were released with notices to appear. Then about 90 percent failed to appear in court.

"As an enforcement tool, expedited removal has already proven to reduce the number of illegal entries," U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Roy Cervantes said. "It protects the border and disrupts the cycle of human smugglers."

Since October, Border Patrol agents have arrested 21,456 Brazilians, 18,482 Hondurans, and 15,412 El Salvadorans compared to 45,418 Mexicans.

Word of mouth among immigrants and human smugglers has reduced those numbers, Cervantes said.

But Nathan Selzer with the Valley Movement for Human Rights said the program could create the potential for violations of due process or cause agents to overlook asylum seekers.

"It just shows how failed U.S. immigration policy is," Selzer said. "It will not deter entry. It just gets people out faster and they'll just come back."

In Mexico, a 3-year-old law allows Brazilians to enter Mexico without a passport or visa.

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said concerns that terrorists could use illegal immigration to enter the United States could prompt Mexico to change the law.

In a July 26 interview with the newspaper, Garza said Mexico and Brazil do not want to unfairly limit the movements of their people, but at the same time they do not want to be used as a platform for terrorists.

"Nobody wants to be the jumping off point to do harm," he said.