{"id":202050,"date":"2016-10-27T20:17:02","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T02:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=202050"},"modified":"2017-01-10T06:48:40","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T13:48:40","slug":"in-mexico-complaints-about-undocumented-immigrants-taking-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/10\/in-mexico-complaints-about-undocumented-immigrants-taking-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"In Mexico, complaints about undocumented immigrants taking jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_202054\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-202054\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_07_TT_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Suchiate River\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_07_TT_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_07_TT_jpg_800x1000_q100-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_07_TT_jpg_800x1000_q100-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_07_TT_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Martin do Nascimento \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">People wade across the Suchiate River separating Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, and Tecun Uman, Guatemala, carrying their shoes, clothes, and bundles of goods.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>ARRIAGA, Chiapas \u2013 This sweltering Mexican village sits about 1,200 miles south of Texas, but the complaints about foreigners would sound familiar in the Lone Star State: People crossing the river illegally from the south are driving down wages, taking over neighborhoods and taxing social services. Others are gaming the country\u2019s legal immigration system by overstaying their visas.<\/p>\n<p>Tens of thousands of Central American migrants have passed through here fleeing their homelands, most trekking northward to seek asylum in the United States. But an increasing number are stopping and settling just north of the Suchiate River, the shallow body of water that separates Guatemala and Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Whether they are biding their time or looking for permanent residency, the uninvited arrivals have tapped into a nativism that puts more pressure on an already tense and poverty-stricken region of Mexico.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/10\/25\/mexicos-immigration-problems\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. It\u2019s part of the news organization\u2019s \u201cBorder on Insecurity\u201d series.\u00a0The Texas Tribune is taking a yearlong look at the issues of border security and immigration, reporting on the reality and rhetoric around these topics. <a href=\"http:\/\/apps.texastribune.org\/bordering-on-insecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up to get<\/a> story alerts.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIn Arriaga, there are neighborhoods that are made up entirely of immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala,\u201d said Jose Maria Morales Cruz, a retired teacher who was born and raised in the small town. \u201cAnd those who live here now don\u2019t want to continue to the other side. Here, they are supported by their fellow countrymen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morales said he can\u2019t blame the immigrants for wanting a better life, some fleeing gang wars that have made Honduras and El Salvador two of the most violent countries in the world. After all, thousands of Mexicans have migrated for years to the United States, he said, leaving poverty and violence behind. But he can see why some Mexicans aren\u2019t high on the idea of immigrants originally headed for the United States staking a claim in Mexico. Just take a trip to an auto repair shop or other blue-collar business, he said, and you\u2019ll see why.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people that are from here [earn] 80 or 100 pesos a day,\u201d Morales said. \u201c[Then] a Guatemalan or El Salvadoran comes and they are offered 50 or 60 pesos. And they accept because at least they can eat, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mexicans can\u2019t do anything about the violence plaguing Central America, but if they want to understand why some Central Americans are settling in instead of moving on they can look to their own government, analysts argue. Another refrain familiar in Texas \u2013 that the government has no control over the country&#8217;s borders \u2013 echoes here.<\/p>\n<p>The Suchiate River in Chiapas\u2019 Ciudad Hidalgo is less a barrier than a transit station where people and goods cross between countries illegally at all hours of the day. Rafts ferry as many as 20 people across at a time. Crates of soda, cereal, baby formula, beer and other provisions are transported from Mexican warehouses that sit less than 50 meters from the river\u2019s banks to waiting trucks on the Guatemalan river bank. It\u2019s the epitome of free \u2013 and illegal \u2014 trade occurring less than a kilometer from the official border crossing, under the disinterested eyes of immigration and customs agents from both countries.<\/p>\n<p>The underground system is so organized that boat captains, whose vessels are simply wooden planks affixed atop tractor-tire inner tubes, wear different-colored t-shirts with their organization\u2019s names stenciled on the backsides. They have designated crossing points so as not to interfere with one another\u2019s business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImagine if they were able to build a wall or a wider riverbank and none of the merchandise was able to cross,\u201d said Sergio Seis Cabrera, the director of Ciudad Hidalgo&#8217;s migrant affairs division. \u201cThe economies of both countries, especially in Ciudad Hidalgo and Tecun Uman [in Guatemala] would be greatly affected. But they don\u2019t because the authorities know it\u2019s a source of income for both cities. That\u2019s why they leave it open, and that\u2019s when the immigrants take advantage.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Mexicans can also thank Uncle Sam for helping prompt some of the Central Americans to stay in their country instead of pressing on to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>After a record surge of Central Americans began crossing the Texas-Mexico border illegally in 2014, the Obama Administration applied pressure on the Mexican government to secure its southern border. That led to an aggressive effort including more checkpoints and Mexican border agents in states like Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz, which sit on the most popular migrant routes to Texas and beyond. It also meant that the freight train used by most of the migrants, called La Bestia, or The Beast, is more guarded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMigration authorities have blocked migrants from boarding trains, pulled migrants off of trains, and raided establishments that migrants are known to frequent, detaining thousands,\u201d states a 2015 report by the Washington Office of Latin America. \u201cThese operations have prompted concerns about excessive use of force and other abuses by the authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The vigilance has led to an increasing number of migrants faced with two options: find a different, likely more dangerous route north or stay put in Mexico. The second option becomes more appealing when migrants learn that there is a good chance their asylum applications will be denied even if they reach the United States. In 2015, more than 10,460 El Salvadorans requested asylum. Only 303 requests \u2014 about 3 percent \u2014 were granted, according to the U.S. Department of Justice&#8217;s Executive Office of Immigration Review.<\/p>\n<p>Hondurans fared slightly better with 3.6 percent of 8,330 cases approved, while Guatemalans saw about 5.3 percent of their 6,900 cases approved, according to the EOIR.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_202055\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-202055\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_28_TT-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Henri \u00c1vila\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_28_TT-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_28_TT-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_28_TT-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_28_TT-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/MHN_TT_MX_28_TT.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Martin do Nascimento \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henri \u00c1vila, a Guatemalan manual laborer, waits for a bus to take him to work in Mexico.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Asylum officers note that some cases take longer than a year to process, so the annual figures may understate the number of applications that eventually will be granted. But the approval averages are still far below the 18 percent overall average for U.S. asylum applications the same year.<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican and U.S. governments have both been accused of turning their backs on refugees from war-torn Central America.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Central Americans fleeing their homes due to real threats of violence deserve international protection. The misguided, insufficient responses by both the U.S. and Mexican governments constitute human rights abuses,\u201d wrote Laura Weiss, the web editor for the North American Congress on Latin America, a nonprofit research organization.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, the Instituto Nacional de Migraci\u00f3n, Mexico\u2019s immigration agency, apprehended about 36,000 people from Central America, <a href=\"http:\/\/nacla.org\/news\/2016\/09\/19\/central-american-refugees-struggle-protection-southern-mexico\" target=\"_blank\">according<\/a> to the NACLA.<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican government has tossed a lifeline of sorts to Central Americans in southern Mexico, offering the migrants refugee status and visas allowing them to travel throughout a four-state area, though not as far north as the Rio Grande. It also gives them permission to work legally.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s intended to dissuade the migrants from crossing into the United States and consider settling in Mexico instead \u2013 at least temporarily. The application process for asylum, administered by Mexico\u2019s Comisi\u00f3n Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados, or COMAR, takes weeks to process, and applicants aren\u2019t guaranteed approval.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only thing I tell them is, \u2018Tell the truth [during your application process],\u2019\u201d Cabrera said. \u201cAnd if you don\u2019t have evidence [of why you are fleeing], they are not going to grant you the status.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to that office, only 30 percent of applicants are approved. Those who aren\u2019t can appeal, but most end up trying again for the United States or remain in Mexico working in the underground economy.<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican government has also been accused of withholding information about potential relief from the Central Americans caught in that country. The NACLA said that only 3,423 people, mostly from El Salvador and Honduras, applied for refugee status in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, according to numerous studies, the INM often fails to inform people they apprehend about their rights to apply for asylum,\u201d the organization said.<\/p>\n<p>There is also concern that the visas are being abused. They allow free roaming in a four-state area, but some use them to travel as far north as they can to reach the United States.<\/p>\n<p>In a shelter in Chahuites, Oaxaca, the state northwest of Chiapas, Anna Hercilia Nu\u00f1uz said she fled El Salvador and was headed for the United States.<\/p>\n<p>She said she was waiting for her a decision on her refugee application before deciding what to do next. The 27-year-old said she was robbed and the only money she had \u2013 about $50 \u2013 was taken while she waited for a van in Ciudad Hidalgo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI left because I have an 8-year-old daughter and a diabetic husband,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re hungry there. There isn\u2019t an opportunity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said she knows the visa limits where one can travel but she\u2019s considering taking a chance to use it to get farther north.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know how else to get there. I am here without a job and without money,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard. And I don\u2019t have any help.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In southern Mexico, locals say some migrants fleeing Central America are staying put instead of traveling on to the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":202054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,3331,236],"class_list":["post-202050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-bordering-on-insecurity","tag-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}