Thread: Yucatan Handbook Encourages Illegal Border Crossing

Nothing subtle in this. Blatantly outrageous!

[blood pressure skyrocketing]

watchman
-------------

Yucatán helping migrants go north
Guide, DVD show Mexicans how to cross border, send cash home

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Feb. 18, 2005 12:00 AM

MERIDA, Mexico - Officials in a Mexican state have published their own 87-page handbook for potential migrants to the United States, adding fuel to an international debate over whether such guides encourage illegal border-crossers.

The Guide for the Yucatecan Migrant, published by the southeastern state of Yucatán, comes with an accompanying DVD in Spanish and Mayan. It tells migrants how to apply for U.S. work visas but also gives detailed safety advice for crossing illegally, including where to find water in the desert and how to avoid the most dangerous areas. The guide includes a section specifically about Arizona.

Yucatán says it is the first Mexican state to publish such a guide, and U.S. immigration-control advocates worry it will be copied by other states. They already are angry over a similar 32-page book published by the Mexican Foreign Ministry in December.

"This boils down to the same thing: Mexican officials inducing and inviting illegal immigration," said U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz. He said he is preparing a letter informing fellow members of Congress about the Yucatecan guide and will complain to the U.S. State Department.

The Yucatán government plans to show the DVD and distribute the books at community centers across the state, said co-author Estela Guzmán Ayala, migrant-affairs director for Yucatán's Institute for the Development of Mayan Culture and a former Mexican consul in Chicago.

The book was published last year but came out in a new, expanded version this month.

The guide warns repeatedly that undocumented migration is a crime and that migrants routinely die crossing the border. Guzmán said its main intent is to save lives.

"When we give people this guide, they actually get depressed, because we are very honest about the risks," Guzmán said.

The book comes amid a wave of outrage in the United States over the Guide for the Mexican Migrant, distributed by the Foreign Ministry in December. Soon afterward, Colorado pulled another guide for immigrants from a state Web site because of a complaint from Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., to Gov. Bill Owens that it encouraged illegal border-crossing.

Yucatán, a state of 1.7 million people, says it is the first Mexican state to produce a guide tailored to its citizens. The first batch of 1,000 was printed in May; 8,000 more were printed this month.

The state sends few migrants to the United States. Most of them, about 50,000, live in the Los Angeles area.

But the number has been rising, and the amount of money migrants sent back to Yucatán doubled in 2001-04 to about $9 million. On Dec. 28, the government held its first Day of the Yucatecan Migrant ceremony to honor expatriates.

"Our point with this book is not to promote migration or reject it, just to recognize it and provide information," said co-author Pedro Lewin Fischer, an ethnic-studies expert with the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

U.S. critics fear Mexican states quietly are encouraging undocumented immigrants as a way to boost their economies. Mexican migrants in all parts of the United States sent $16.6 billion to Mexico last year.

"That open border is worth more than a billion dollars a month to Mexico, so they're going to do whatever they can to keep it going," said Rick Oltman, Western field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, based in Washington, D.C.

The Guide for the Yucatecan Migrant is filled with photographs and maps, and the cover shows a man in traditional Yucatecan dress standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

It devotes 11 pages to U.S. visas and how to apply for them. The guide published by the Foreign Ministry in December contained none of that information and was widely criticized for it.

An additional 21 pages are about crossing the border illegally, including descriptions meant to help migrants avoid the most dangerous routes through Arizona, California and Texas.

Eight pages deal with crossing the Arizona desert, telling migrants what clothes to wear and to add salt to their drinking water and use a rehydration formula that can be bought in pharmacies.

"After passing through Lukeville, you will cross through a national park where you will find tanks of water," one section says. "If the smuggler decides to walk beyond the park, you will travel on paths where there is no Border Patrol but in places where military exercises are conducted."

Guzmán said the descriptions are meant to help migrants realize when smugglers are leading them into danger.

Four pages are devoted to migrants' rights while detained by U.S. authorities. The guide tells them they only must give their names to officials, advises them to sign nothing without speaking to a lawyer or consular official and recommends they contact their local consulate for help in getting refunds for unused plane tickets.

The rest of the book is devoted to life in the United States: how to send money home, where to find health care, differences in U.S. and Mexican laws and driving tips.

The book urges migrants to seek free English classes. It also tells them how to apply for documents that will allow them to enroll in U.S. grade schools, a sore point for some U.S. school districts.

"There is an agreement between the governments of Mexico and the United States so that, no matter your migration status, you can study in elementary, secondary and preparatory schools," it says. "Don't stop studying; there is always an option."

The DVD repeats much of the same information using voice-overs, but it includes more photos and graphics.

The book ends with an invitation to return home:

"Don't forget that Yucatán is your homeland and that in your homeland we will always receive you with open arms and with the respect you deserve."

Reach the reporter at chris.hawley@arizonarepublic.com.

Nothing subtle in this. Blatantly outrageous!

[blood pressure skyrocketing]

watchman
-------------

Yucatán helping migrants go north
Guide, DVD show Mexicans how to cross border, send cash home

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Feb. 18, 2005 12:00 AM

MERIDA, Mexico - Officials in a Mexican state have published their own 87-page handbook for potential migrants to the United States, adding fuel to an international debate over whether such guides encourage illegal border-crossers.

The Guide for the Yucatecan Migrant, published by the southeastern state of Yucatán, comes with an accompanying DVD in Spanish and Mayan. It tells migrants how to apply for U.S. work visas but also gives detailed safety advice for crossing illegally, including where to find water in the desert and how to avoid the most dangerous areas. The guide includes a section specifically about Arizona.

Yucatán says it is the first Mexican state to publish such a guide, and U.S. immigration-control advocates worry it will be copied by other states. They already are angry over a similar 32-page book published by the Mexican Foreign Ministry in December.

"This boils down to the same thing: Mexican officials inducing and inviting illegal immigration," said U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz. He said he is preparing a letter informing fellow members of Congress about the Yucatecan guide and will complain to the U.S. State Department.

The Yucatán government plans to show the DVD and distribute the books at community centers across the state, said co-author Estela Guzmán Ayala, migrant-affairs director for Yucatán's Institute for the Development of Mayan Culture and a former Mexican consul in Chicago.

The book was published last year but came out in a new, expanded version this month.

The guide warns repeatedly that undocumented migration is a crime and that migrants routinely die crossing the border. Guzmán said its main intent is to save lives.

"When we give people this guide, they actually get depressed, because we are very honest about the risks," Guzmán said.

The book comes amid a wave of outrage in the United States over the Guide for the Mexican Migrant, distributed by the Foreign Ministry in December. Soon afterward, Colorado pulled another guide for immigrants from a state Web site because of a complaint from Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., to Gov. Bill Owens that it encouraged illegal border-crossing.

Yucatán, a state of 1.7 million people, says it is the first Mexican state to produce a guide tailored to its citizens. The first batch of 1,000 was printed in May; 8,000 more were printed this month.

The state sends few migrants to the United States. Most of them, about 50,000, live in the Los Angeles area.

But the number has been rising, and the amount of money migrants sent back to Yucatán doubled in 2001-04 to about $9 million. On Dec. 28, the government held its first Day of the Yucatecan Migrant ceremony to honor expatriates.

"Our point with this book is not to promote migration or reject it, just to recognize it and provide information," said co-author Pedro Lewin Fischer, an ethnic-studies expert with the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

U.S. critics fear Mexican states quietly are encouraging undocumented immigrants as a way to boost their economies. Mexican migrants in all parts of the United States sent $16.6 billion to Mexico last year.

"That open border is worth more than a billion dollars a month to Mexico, so they're going to do whatever they can to keep it going," said Rick Oltman, Western field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, based in Washington, D.C.

The Guide for the Yucatecan Migrant is filled with photographs and maps, and the cover shows a man in traditional Yucatecan dress standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

It devotes 11 pages to U.S. visas and how to apply for them. The guide published by the Foreign Ministry in December contained none of that information and was widely criticized for it.

An additional 21 pages are about crossing the border illegally, including descriptions meant to help migrants avoid the most dangerous routes through Arizona, California and Texas.

Eight pages deal with crossing the Arizona desert, telling migrants what clothes to wear and to add salt to their drinking water and use a rehydration formula that can be bought in pharmacies.

"After passing through Lukeville, you will cross through a national park where you will find tanks of water," one section says. "If the smuggler decides to walk beyond the park, you will travel on paths where there is no Border Patrol but in places where military exercises are conducted."

Guzmán said the descriptions are meant to help migrants realize when smugglers are leading them into danger.

Four pages are devoted to migrants' rights while detained by U.S. authorities. The guide tells them they only must give their names to officials, advises them to sign nothing without speaking to a lawyer or consular official and recommends they contact their local consulate for help in getting refunds for unused plane tickets.

The rest of the book is devoted to life in the United States: how to send money home, where to find health care, differences in U.S. and Mexican laws and driving tips.

The book urges migrants to seek free English classes. It also tells them how to apply for documents that will allow them to enroll in U.S. grade schools, a sore point for some U.S. school districts.

"There is an agreement between the governments of Mexico and the United States so that, no matter your migration status, you can study in elementary, secondary and preparatory schools," it says. "Don't stop studying; there is always an option."

The DVD repeats much of the same information using voice-overs, but it includes more photos and graphics.

The book ends with an invitation to return home:

"Don't forget that Yucatán is your homeland and that in your homeland we will always receive you with open arms and with the respect you deserve."

Reach the reporter at chris.hawley@arizonarepublic.com.

Absolutely obsurd! A solution to the problem would be disallowing monies to be sent back "home" to Mexico and/or Central American countries. This would decrease the need for those countries to rely on our funds thus decreasing the burden illegal immigrants are to the U.S. I am appalled that our government has not cracked down on this issue!!! Something needs to be done or we will be paying for the rest of our lives as well as our children. We will continue to have to conform to their lifestyle rather than them conform to ours.