Monday, January 12, 2009

Mexican police in immigrant controversy

Earlier this month we mentioned about the often overlooked the issues regarding migrants crossing from Central America into Mexico. Now comes word that Mexican police have come under fire for allegedly killing three migrants.

Accounts differ as to what exactly occurred; one officer from the southern stats of Chiapas said that the three migrants died after their truck crashed at the end of a lengthy car chase. Jose de Jesus Mejia- one of the migrants caught by police- told LAHT that thirty people were riding on the truck including migrants from Honduras, Ecuador, and even a Chinese man. He added that some of them paid as much as $6000 to be smuggled into Mexico and subsequently the U.S.

As another LAHT article noted:
Chiapas, bordering Guatemala, is the gateway for the estimated 300,000 undocumented migrants annually who enter Mexico from Central America by land with hopes of reaching the United States, many of them conducted across the border by people traffickers charging stiff fees.
Image- New York Times (“Migrants from Guatemala cross a stream into southern Mexico, a common route for those seeking jobs in Mexico or passage to the United States.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, LAHT, MSNBC

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