FEWER MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS TREK TO U.S.
FROM NUMBERSUSA!!!
Fewer Mexican immigrants trek to U.S.
ASSOCIATED PRESS : June 13 , 2006 -- by OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
"Francisco Loureiro, who runs an immigrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico, across the border from Arizona, said immigrants are afraid of the U.S. troops after hearing reports of abuse in Iraq..." SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Mexico -- Fewer Mexican immigrants are trying to illegally enter the United States this month, officials and activists said, as U.S. National Guard troops began arriving along the border in Arizona.
U.S. authorities said Monday that detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border decreased 21%, to 26,994, in the first 10 days of June, compared with 34,077 for the period a year ago. Along Arizona's border, once the busiest area, detentions dropped 23%, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
The 55 soldiers who arrived June 3 are the first of about 6,000 troops to be dispatched along the 2,000-mile border as part of a plan to stem illegal immigration to the United States.
The soldiers aren't allowed to detain immigrants and have been limited to projects such as extending border fences, but their presence is keeping would-be crossers away, immigrant-rights activists said.
Francisco Loureiro, who runs an immigrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico, across the border from Arizona, said immigrants are afraid of the U.S. troops after hearing reports of abuse in Iraq.
"Some migrants have told me they heard about the troops on television, and, because the U.S. Army doesn't have a very good reputation, they prefer not to cross," Loureiro said. Others have been discouraged by smugglers' fees that have nearly doubled to more than $3,000.
Jorge Vazquez, coordinator for Mexico's Grupo Beta immigrant aid agency in San Luis Rio Colorado, across from San Luis, Ariz., said that before the troops arrived, his agents encountered at least two dozen immigrants daily, most waiting for nightfall to begin their trek.
"There have been days ... when we've found only three migrants," Vazquez said.
Some immigrants may be moving to the California-Mexico border, where detentions were up 7% to 5,965 in the first 10 days of June, compared with the same period a year ago.
The National Guard plan has been criticized in Mexico as heavy-handed.
The Mexican government has said it will watch to ensure troops aren't detaining immigrants.