DEATH IN THE MEXICAN COMMUNITY

Celebrating the Dead in San Francisco

Dias De Los Muertos - Celebrating Death

Story by: Nicole Lee

Skulls and coffins adorned the heart of the Mission district the evening of Nov. 2. Among them were ghosts and goblins, skeletal figures with darkened eyes and whitened cheeks, and flamboyant, gory beasts. Surrounding the figures was an intense scent of sage and incense that permeated the air.

These revelers didn't forget Halloween was on Oct. 31. They were in a parade procession to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, otherwise known as the Day of the Dead.

The procession started at the corner of 24th and Bryant streets, and proceeded along to 25th, Mission, back to 24th, through Balmy Alley, and finally ended in Garfield Park with a public ritual.

It was the final day of the three-day Dia de Los Muertos celebration, a traditional Mexican festival that honors death and treats it as a continuation of life, rather than the end of it.

This is a ritual that indigenous peoples of Mexico, then known as Aztecs, practiced for at least 3,000 years. Unlike the Spaniards that conquered them, they believed one should embrace death instead of fearing it.

The San Francisco Day of the Dead Ritual Procession is a project of the Colectivo del Rescate Cultural, that was produced in collaboration with CELL Space and Reclaiming Collective, Spiritual and Cultural Workers, Community Educational & Artistic Organizations, the Mission Cultural Center, the Mexican Museum, Galeria De La Raza, the California Arts Council Folk Arts Program, and Independent Artists.

Most people take the opportunity during this celebration to pay homage to dead friends and relatives.

In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried, and decorate the gravesites. In the United States and in Mexico's larger cities, families build altars in their homes, dedicating them to the dead.

During the procession, the beating of drums and the ringing of bells echoed through the otherwise quiet evening. Several groups had their own drum procession, while individuals used old glasses as makeshift percussion instruments to join in the celebration.

"The sounds of the drums indicate happiness," said Javier Pinzon, one of a group of people who were carrying tall sticks adorned with colorful paper streamers. "The more sound there is, the happier the atmosphere is".

The tall sticks were part of this year's procession ritual theme, which honored the re-birth of Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god who brought culture and enlightenment to the Aztecs. Several tall sticks of pink and purple streamers formed the tail of the god, whereas the head of the god was a huge cross adorned with different colored streamers. The center of the cross was a bright orange-yellow color.

People donned wooden skull masks called "calacas" and danced in honor of their deceased relatives. Assistants passed out yellow marigolds to the crowd. Dancers hopped and skipped along the darkened road, lit only by streetlights and candles carried by celebrants.

"The candles are to light the way home for the spirits," said Raquel Garcia. Garcia works part time as an artist who occasionally builds altars in museums, such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

"The incense is to attract the spirits by smell, and the yellow marigold [also called cempazuchitl] is the symbol of death," Garcia said. "The skeleton costumes and such are mostly for fun."

Garcia's grandmother died five years ago, so Garcia said she tries to attend this celebration every year in remembrance of her.

"This is a peaceful and joyful celebration," she said. "I believe that the spirits are still alive, and my grandmother is still around enjoying this."

Participant Joanna Moody was dressed up as a corpse; her face painted as a grey and black skull. She pushed her 2-year-old son in a blue stroller along in the parade. Moody has attended the Dia de los Muertos parade for many years, but this was her son's first.

"It's a family event, and kids can get involved," Moody said. "We get reunited with our beloved dead relatives, especially those that died the last year."

A truck drove up Bryant Street, and standing on it was Gerardo Salina as a towering Aztec priest dressed in a golden rooster outfit, with long flamboyant plumage and bells on his shoes. He stood on the truck, beating a huge drum. Behind him were several female dancers, dressed up in similar golden outfits. He led the colorful god formation through the parade.

A group of four people carried a coffin-shaped metal frame through the crowd. When looked at closely, shapes of flattened guns decorated the frame. The man who built it, John Ricker, the founder and executive director of Peaceful Streets, used about 30 guns to create his art.

"We want to get guns and turn them into art," Ricker said. "This is built out of donated guns. For every dollar a gun is worth, a book will be donated to a reading program. So, this gun showed on the side here was worth $200, therefore 200 books will be donated."

The organization has been around for three years. The goal is to get a gun for every person killed. For example, 68 people have been killed so far this year, so they hope to get 68 guns donated, according to Ricker.

The procession ended at Garfield Park. There were four different altars, symbolizing earth, fire, air and water, that various local artists helped build. Each altar was elaborately designed with candles, pictures and sculptures scattered around it. One had little pet statues and crosses, as well as paper drawings of children. People were invited to take a piece of paper and write a little note to a departed loved one, and then leave them on the ground in front of the altar. By the end of the night, the ground was littered with pieces of torn paper that carried personal messages to the deceased.

FROM: http://130.212.44.5/storys01.php?storyid=1959

mal de ojo (the "evil eye")

a kind of personalistic illness in Latin America and parts of the Mediterranean Basin resulting from soul loss. The cause is traditionally thought to be a strong person staring at a weak individual. The eyes of the strong person drain the power and/or soul from the weak one. Proof that this has occurred to someone is that he or she cries inconsolably without a cause, has fitful sleep, diarrhea, vomiting, and/or a fever. It is thought that powerful people can cause this draining of the soul intentionally or unintentionally. In traditional Mexican and Central American culture, women, babies, and young children are thought of as being weak, while men as well as rich and politically powerful people of either gender are strong. People who believe in the existence of mal de ojo are likely to seek out a curandero to cure it.
a kind of personalistic illness in Latin America and parts of the Mediterranean Basin resulting from soul loss. The cause is traditionally thought to be a strong person staring at a weak individual. The eyes of the strong person drain the power and/or soul from the weak one. Proof that this has occurred to someone is that he or she cries inconsolably without a cause, has fitful sleep, diarrhea, vomiting, and/or a fever. It is thought that powerful people can cause this draining of the soul intentionally or unintentionally. In traditional Mexican and Central American culture, women, babies, and young children are thought of as being weak, while men as well as rich and politically powerful people of either gender are strong. People who believe in the existence of mal de ojo are likely to seek out a curandero to cure it.

curandero (female: curandera )

a Latin American folk curer. Cuanderos believe that they have received a divine calling to their profession, and they may have direct contact with the spirit world. They usually apprentice for years under an older curandero. In Mexico and Central America, there are curandero generalists and specialists. Yerberos are knowledgeable about herbs. Parteras are midwifes. Sabadoros are specialists in massaging patients. Curanderos may also specialize in particular kinds of illness--e.g., curandero de aire , etc.

Illegal Immigrant Death Rate Rises Sharply in Barren Areas

By EVELYN NIEVES

EL CENTRO, Calif. The dying season began early here this year, with four bloated bodies found floating in the All-American Canal on March 14. The victims, young men ages 19 and 20, had made their way from Chiapas, in southernmost Mexico, before drowning in the canal's churning currents just 35 yards from United States land.

For the Imperial County Sheriff's Department, it was an ominous sign. The dead usually start showing up in multiples in high summer, when the desert becomes an inferno and the canal, roiling beneath a calm veneer, lures migrants looking for a quick way across and relief from the killing sun. If bodies were washing up in groups in March, what would the summer be like?

The answer, so far, is grim. Even though deaths along the Mexican border have declined over all as the slumping American economy has attracted fewer migrants, the toll is reaching record rates in the most remote and dangerous outposts. To avoid the stepped-up border patrols in populated areas, the most desperate migrants cross in the more unguarded and desolate deserts of Arizona and eastern California. June was the deadliest month ever for the southwest border, with 67 migrants dying, mostly in the unrelenting heat of the United States Border Patrol's Tucson sector, a barely habitable land that covers most of southern Arizona.

Here in the mountainous El Centro sector, which includes the vast Imperial Desert, 52 migrants have died since Oct. 1. The sheriff's department believes the deaths could outpace last year's record of 95.

"It seems quiet, but we're finding more multiples bodies in threes, fours and fives," said Gary Hayes, a deputy coroner in the department. "They're really trying to avoid detection, so they're going to more and more remote areas."

The rising toll in these barren regions is the more remarkable because illegal immigration from Mexico has fallen 29 percent, largely because of the faltering United States economy and tighter security, and border deaths in general are down 20 percent.

Experts warn that the deadliest months are to come. August, traditionally, is the cruelest. They also note that the statistics do not include people who die in Mexico. (The Mexican government counted 22 migrants who died inside its border in June. It counts only Mexicans and not migrants who pass through from Central America or elsewhere.)

The deaths are full of suffering. People have suffocated in airless trucks, died in vehicle crashes, been struck by lightning or drowned. Most often, though, they are felled by heatstroke or dehydration. Some carry no identification and, in a tragic irony, end up where they wanted to be, in the United States but in anonymous pauper's graves. Other migrants, not counted by the Border Patrol, never make it across.

Migrant advocacy organizations blame the Border Patrol for the mounting deaths, saying that its decision to focus its policing on border cities has driven migrant traffic to the most severe terrain, with the most extreme climates, winter and summer. The policy, which began as Operation Gatekeeper in 1994, added officers, enhanced surveillance equipment and put up physical barriers like concrete walls, as well as introducing other measures, at the San Diego border. The strategy was then expanded to Arizona and Texas.

Since the operation began, about 2,000 migrants have died trying to cross into this country, according to the Mexican government, with an average of more than one a day in the last two years. The shift has also made expensive smugglers called coyotes indispensable. Possibly hundreds of migrants have died because they have been abandoned by these smugglers, or because they have been led by people who themselves could not manage a brutal landscape, their advocates say.

"Once the deaths started happening by the dozens in the mountains east of San Diego," the federal government "never rethought its strategy," said Claudia Smith, border project director for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, in San Diego. "The Border Patrol, as planned, went on to push them into the deserts," she said, "where the risk increased exponentially."

The Border Patrol denies that its policies are responsible for the increase in deaths and has no plans to change its strategy. It counters that it is doing everything it can to deter migrants from passing through the desert, including adding medically trained search and trauma teams to rescue migrants, helicopter patrols in treacherous areas and several rescue beacons in the desert that send an electronic distress signal with the push of a button. It has also mounted a public service campaign in Mexico and Central America, using celebrities to do television and radio advertisements to warn would-be migrants of the dangers of trying an illegal border crossing.

"Our primary mission is to protect our nation's borders," said Mario Villarreal, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C., adding that unscrupulous smugglers, charging between $1,000 and $2,000 a person or more, are to blame for persuading would-be border crossers to make the dangerous trek.

Crossing the border illegally has always come with risks. Before Operation Gatekeeper, most traffic entered via cities like San Diego and El Paso, where migrants became targets for muggers and the like.

A study released in July by the Public Policy Institute of California, a research organization in San Francisco, found that the Gatekeeper strategy, which costs more than $2 billion a year, has done little to significantly diminish illegal immigration. It actually increased after the border buildup. Economic opportunities in the United States and Mexico, the study found, have a stronger effect on migration than does the number of agents at the border.

Migrants risking their lives in the extremes of the desert tend to come from the poorest states in Mexico, like Chiapas and Oaxaca, where the economy is in collapse and whole villages have been vacated by working-age men, and, increasingly, women. At Casa Madre de Asunto in Tijuana, a safe house for migrant women that is run by a Catholic nun, a dozen or more women at a time have either migrated to the city from the south or have stopped by on their way to cross the border.

Recently, a 31-year-old woman from Oaxaca said she and her brother, a cousin and a friend, who were resting at a safe house for men next door, had driven for two days and two nights to make it to Tijuana and planned to make a two-day trek through mountains with a "coyote" who was taking them into Los Angeles, charging them $1,500 each.

"That's $1,000 less than he charges others," she said, "because he knows us." She had tried to make the trek months before, she said, but lost her nerve after feeling faint and dehydrated and turned back after a day.

She said she hoped to become a maid or work in a store and make some money to send to her mother. "I'm coming for a better life for all of us," she said.

Days later, a woman at the safe house said she assumed the group had made it across; they had not heard from the Oaxaca woman.

When smugglers are caught, said Mr. Villarreal of the Border Patrol, efforts are made to prosecute them. In a recent incident in Dallas, where two men were found dead in a stifling 54-foot-long truck that had transported 40 illegal immigrants from El Paso, a nine-hour trip, two truckers have been charged with murder.

"This is good work' but we're not done," Mr. Villarreal said. "The main message we still want to get out is that it is dangerous to try to cross along the southwest border."

Here in the El Centro sector, five suspected illegal immigrants died of heat exposure in mid-July in an area of the Imperial Desert that resembles a moonscape. "It's almost totally devoid of plant life," Mr. Hayes, the deputy coroner, said.

Spotted by a military aircraft, the bodies could not retrieved for a day because of the terrain. Mr. Hayes said satellite equipment was needed to mark the positions of the bodies.

FROM: http://threehegemons.tripod.com/threehegemonsblog/id152.html

Mexico: Returns, Politics, Death Row

In February 2004, Mexico and the US agreed that Mexicans apprehended in the US just inside the border could volunteer to be returned to their communities of origin rather than be simply bussed back to the border. The intent is to discourage migrants from making repeated attempts to enter the US. Asa Hutchinson, US undersecretary of border and transportation security, said "If we can move migrants back into the interior, closer to their homes, we can achieve our goal to break the cycle of smuggling."

The US is trying to persuade Mexico to see border control as a humanitarian issue, arguing that if Mexico helped to discourage illegal entries, the lives of migrants who now perish in the desert could be saved. Some say that the test will come in summer 2004. If Mexico helps to reduce illegal entries, the stage may be set for the Bush administration to argue that Mexico-US cooperation can make broader immigration reform work.

In September 2003, the US spent $1.3 million to fly 5,600 Mexicans apprehended in Arizona to Texas border cities and walked them across the border. The Mexican government protested, saying that it wanted "a bilateral agreement on how to discourage illegal migration" rather than unilateral US policy initiatives.

Mexico in March 2004 arrested 44 persons for smuggling, including 32 former officials of the National Immigration Institute, Mexico's border enforcement agency. Those arrested were charged with smuggling Brazilians, Cubans, Central Americans and Asians through Mexico into the United States.

Jaripo, Michoacan, six hours northwest of Mexico City, is a city of nurseries and nursing homes that survives from remittances and the return of migrants from Lathrop, near Stockton, every December-January. A reporter concluded: "Emigration to the United States encourages more people to emigrate, while stunting the region's ability to develop its own economy" because wage expectations are formed by what relatives earn in the US. Jaripo children tend to drop out of school at 15 and head for the US.

Politics. Homemade videos of Mexico City officials stuffing bribes in brief-cases prompted Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leading presidential contender for 2006, to assert that "The fundamental problem of our country -- corruption -- hasn't been solved. . . . As long as there is corruption, we can't get ahead." Millions of Mexicans refuse to pay income and property taxes because of a widespread belief that the money will end up in an official's pocket.

In the aftermath of the bribery videos, Mexico's political parties agreed to reform the financing of parties and elections: Mexico spends $1.2 billion on elections, the most in Latin America, and more than it spends on public safety. Under the proposed reforms, the amount of money given to parties and spent on elections would fall, and Mexicans abroad would gain the right to vote.

President Fox in March 2004 proposed major reforms of the criminal justice system, including the presumption of innocence, public trials with oral evidence, and introducing plea bargaining. The five federal police forces would be combined into one national entity, and police would be given new investigative powers. Under current procedures, people are sometimes arrested on dubious suspicions for minor crimes and held for months without charges; an estimated 80 percent of crimes are not reported because Mexicans have so little faith in the police.

Vienna Convention. Mexico challenged the death sentences of 51 Mexican citizens in eight US states for crimes committed in the US. On the ground that the rights of the Mexicans were not protected under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. That treaty requires arresting officers to allow foreigners to contact their diplomatic representatives. The US became a party to the Convention in 1969; there are 164 signatories.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague agreed with Mexico that, because state and local police and prosecutors did not provide consular access to the Mexicans, those on death row should have the opportunity to reopen and reargue their cases. Mexican lawyers told the court that in the cases when consular protection was provided, life sentences were more likely than death sentences.

In January 2004, there were 122 foreign citizens from 31 countries on death row in the United States. The US government says that it has distributed pocket cards to 700,000 law enforcement officials in 18,000 state and local jurisdictions informing them of suspects' rights to consular access.

Guatemala Border. In 2003, Mexico deported 147,000 illegal immigrants, about 20 percent more than in 2002, with 90 percent from Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Many gather in Tecum Uman, and cross the Suchiate river into Mexico from Guatemala.

Many migrants try to board so-called trains of death that travel from the Mexico border city of Tapachula 1,000 miles to Texas-Mexican border. Corrupt police and criminals prey on the migrants; the Mexican Grupo Beta agents try to protect the migrants and warn them of the dangers of riding the trains north.

Hugh Dellios, "Seeking the train of death," Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2004. Sam Quinones, "Emigration brings dollars home but leaves Mexican town behind," San Francisco Chronicle, February 9, 2004. "Mexico's immigration problem" The Economist, January 29, 2004.

FROM: http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2997_0_2_0

NAFTA Equals Death, Say Peasant Farmers

Inter Press Service
December 04, 2002
Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Dec 3 (IPS) - More than 2,000 peasant farmers from throughout Mexico staged a protest Tuesday in the capital to demand a freeze on the agricultural provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which they blame for most of their economic and social woes.

But their demands do not appear to have much chance of winning the desired response from the government.

''I have nothing. I am here out of desperation because I am poorer than I have ever been,'' said Francisco Martmnez, an elderly farmer who took part in Tuesday's march in Mexico City, carrying a sign that read ''NAFTA Equals Death''.

Under the slogan ''the countryside can endure no more'', farmers from 24 of Mexico's 32 states marched in Mexico City to the Congress building to present their demands and later staged protests outside the U.S. and French embassies.

UNORCA, the national union of some 30 regional peasant groups, organized the demonstrations with the aim of preventing the agricultural trade liberalization measures -- agreed under NAFTA, which comprises Canada, Mexico and the United States -- from taking effect in January.

The new phase of liberalization entails the complete elimination of tariffs on 21 farm products, including potatoes, wheat, apples, onions, coffee, chicken and veal.

The NAFTA mechanism, which UNORCA describes as ''toxic to the Mexican countryside,'' establishes three steps towards liberalizing the farm and livestock sector. The first occurred in 1994 when the three-nation treaty entered into force, the second is slated for January, and the third in 2008.

In 1993, when NAFTA was still being negotiated, the government of Carlos Salinas, then president of Mexico (1988-1994), agreed to the process of a gradual elimination of agricultural tariffs with the support of the country's leading farm organizations.

Now, nearly a decade later, they are all complaining.

Recognizing the difficulties that Mexican farmers face with the deepening of trade liberalization, President Vicente Fox announced in November that the government would provide support for rural producers to the tune of 10 billion dollars in 2003, or 7.7 percent more aid than this year.

Fox stated last month that he is very concerned about how the trade liberalization process is unfolding, ''in light of the U.S. subsidies to its agricultural production.''

He said he would take up the matter with the George W. Bush administration, but there has not been any indication of action so far.

The Mexican president's aim would be to press the United States to eliminate its farm subsidies, which total 19 billion dollars a year, nearly double what Mexico has budgeted for its farmers in 2003.

But Washington announced that it will not alter its farm subsidy policies and that the situation of the Mexican farmers does not justify annulment of the agricultural chapter of NAFTA.

Mexico would not ask for a suspension of the trade agreement's farm provisions anyway, say Fox administration sources, because doing so would mean revoking the country's recognition of the treaty itself.

Since NAFTA took effect, Mexico's overall exports shot up from 60.9 billion dollars in 1994 to 158.4 billion dollars in 2001. In that same period, imports jumped from 79.3 billion dollars to 168.4 billion dollars annually.

More than 85 percent of Mexican trade is currently concentrated in exchange with the United States.

But for Mexico's rural areas, where 75 percent of the population living in extreme poverty is concentrated, the three- country treaty has meant the loss of more than 10 million hectares of cultivated land.

And the decline of the rural sector has pushed 15 million peasants -- and mostly young people -- to move to the cities, either in Mexico or in the United States, according to a study by the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM).

Over the last 10 years, the participation of the farming sector in Mexico's gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen from 7.3 percent to less than 5.0 percent.

The protests Tuesday echoed similar demonstrations in November, including the blockade of a main federal highway by farmers in the state of Morelos, neighboring the Mexico City federal district, and protests by peasants from the southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero outside government offices in the capital.

The common denominator of all of these events is the rural producers' rejection of NAFTA.

''The farmers are walking towards death because they are up against the 'disloyal' trade competition from the United States and the Mexican government's desertion of the countryside,'' says Alberto Gsmez, UNORCA executive coordinator.

Without exception, Mexico's farmer organizations believe the new phase of NAFTA-stipulated farm trade liberalization will generate more poverty and prompt more people to leave rural areas.

They also reckon that the financial support Fox has promised will not be nearly enough.

Mariano Ruiz, an analyst with the Mexico City-based Grupo de Economistas y Asociados, says the worst blow for the Mexican farmers will come in 2008 when the agricultural tariffs on products like maize and beans are lifted.

An estimated 2.8 million Mexican farm families make their livelihood from these commodities.

''The countryside is a time-bomb that could explode very soon,'' commented Rosario Robles, chairwoman of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), the country's third political force.

The elderly farmer Martmnez, who joined his colleagues for the Mexico City march Tuesday, does not believe in anything that the Fox government is offering.

''I have heard many things in the two years since he took office. The one thing for certain is that I am getting poorer and poorer,'' he said.

FROM: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/487.html

Bull World Health Organ. 1999;77(5):375-80.

Seasonal diarrhoeal mortality among Mexican children.

Villa S, Guiscafre H, Martinez H, Munoz O, Gutierrez G.

Mexican Social Security Institute, Secretariat for Health, Mexico City, Mexico.

The study investigated the effects on diarrhoeal deaths among under-5-year-old Mexican children of the following variables: season (summer or winter), region (north versus south), age group, and place of death. Examination of death certificates indicated that the distribution of deaths in 1989-90 was bimodal, with one peak during the winter and a more pronounced one during the summer. In 1993-94, however, the winter peak was higher than that in the summer (odds ratio (OR) = 2.04). These findings were due mostly to deaths among children aged 1-23 months (OR = 1.86). Diarrhoeal mortality was highest among children aged 6-11 months (OR = 2.23). During the winter, there was a significant increase in the number of deaths that occurred in medical care units and among children who had been seen by a physician before they died, but deaths occurring at home showed no seasonal variation. In the northern states, the reduction in diarrhoeal mortality was less in winter than in summer (OR = 2.62). In the southern states, the proportional reduction during the winter was similar to that in the summer.

PIP: In this study, the influence of season, region, age group, and place of occurrence of death on diarrheal mortality among under-five Mexican children was examined. Data on diarrheal deaths from 1989 to 1995 were collected from the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information, Mexico City. All diarrheal deaths among under-fives were identified by month to determine whether there was any seasonal pattern. Results showed that the distribution of death in 1989-90 was bimodal, with one peak during the winter and a more pronounced one during the summer. However, in 1993-94, the winter peak was higher than that in summer [odds ratio (OR) = 2.04]. This was caused mostly by deaths among children aged 1-23 months (OR = 1.86). Diarrheal mortality was highest among children aged 6-11 months (OR = 2.23). A significant increase in the number of deaths occurred during winter in medical care units, but deaths occurring at home showed no seasonal variation. The reduction in diarrheal mortality in northern states was less pronounced in winter than in summer (OR = 2.62); however, in the southern states, the proportional reduction in winter was similar to that in summer.

FROM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10361753&dopt=
Abstract

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

U.S. hospitals along Mexican border say illegal immigrants are costing them big money
By Lynn Brezcsky
Associated Press Writer

BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Ambulances regularly race across the bridges of the Rio Grande, bringing some of Mexico's sickest to the nearest U.S. emergency room.

Obligated by federal law, the hospitals provide the care and worry later about whether the billing addresses patients give them are accurate. Often the addresses are false -- and the hospitals get stuck with the bill.

Immigrant patients have inflated medical expenses for insurance companies, Medicaid and paying customers, officials say, and are overwhelming already busy hospitals in one of nation's fastest-growing regions.

One recent study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition, an American lobbying group, found U.S. border hospitals provided at least $200 million a year in uncompensated emergency care to illegal immigrants, $74 million of that in Texas.

''Shh, don't tell Iowa farmers that part of their taxes are paying for trauma that occurs south of the border,'' Dr. Lorenzo Pelly, a south Texas doctor, told state lawmakers at a recent hearing.

Republican state Sen. Chris Harris said he was shocked by what he called the ''dumping'' of Mexicans on U.S. hospitals.

Policymakers are just being to assess the size of the problem.

Brownsville Medical Center estimates losses averaging at least $500,000 per month. At Thomason Hospital in El Paso, officials said their first attempt to estimate the cost found $1 million over just three months.

Thomason Hospital responded by retaining a Mexican lawyer and requiring patients to sign ''pagares,'' or promissory notes, that carry weight under Mexican law. It also signed on with a firm that specializes in collecting past due accounts in Mexico.

Even without the influx from Mexico, U.S. border hospitals are straining to meet the region's growing medical needs. Some have resorted to importing doctors and offering nurses tuition grants and signing bonuses.

But the load really jumped as Mexicans looking for work stream to factories along the border. The North American Free Trade Agreement has stimulated business on both sides of the border, but hospitals have not kept up.

NAFTA ''lacks the social economic infrastructure and capacity'' to address the growth, said Eva Moya of the Mexico Border Health Commission, made up of U.S. and Mexican officials.

For the sick or injured on the Mexican side of the border, the choice in a life-or-death situation can be a three-hour journey inland to Monterrey, Mexico, or a minutes-long trip to Brownsville, Laredo or El Paso.

The issue drew attention in September, when 4-year-old Larissa Guajardo, a U.S. citizen, died of heart problems after crossing the Hidalgo-Reynosa international bridge on the way to a hospital. Family members blamed a delay caused by immigration officials, who would not let the mother enter the country. The mother lacked paperwork and had crossed the border illegally before.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service said the inspection process took only a few minutes and that inspectors did not know the girl's illness was critical. Once the seriousness was discovered, the mother was allowed to enter on humanitarian grounds, the INS said.

The Sept. 11 attacks have also complicated the situation along the border, with some authorities worrying about what the ambulances might be holding.

''It is a security threat if they are going across the border unchallenged, but at the same time, we don't want to interfere with an emergency procedure,'' said Carl Rusnok of the INS in Dallas.

The B&M International Bridge, which links Brownsville with Matamoros, Mexico, has emergency crossings down to a science, said Joe Galvan, president of the company that runs it. The company has its own security guards staffing both sides of the crossing, and in medical emergencies a call goes out for the U.S. side to clear a lane for fast passage.

Under a 1986 federal law, U.S. hospitals must treat anyone who seeks emergency care, without regard to immigration status or ability to pay. The government gives hospitals extra funding to help poorer regions absorb the costs of unreimbursed care, but hospitals say it is not enough.

''This becomes a particular philosophical question that these doctors are having,'' said Dominic Dominguez, an administrator at Brownsville Medical Center. ''Part of my signing to serve in this community is, I'll cover this emergency room. But I didn't sign on to cover Mexico.''

• • •

On the Net:

Border health commission: http://www.borderhealth.gov

Border counties coalition: http://www.bordercounties.org

STATISTICS IN MEXICO

60.2% of people living with AIDS in Mexico don't have access to Social Security services, from these, only 3.5% gets attention at private institutions. Source: "Costs and expenses of AIDS medical attention in Mexico" by Jorge Saavedra, M.D. and Carlos Magis, M. D.

"Also, through informative campaigns and with the support of health workers, we have started prevention programs of new diseases affecting society, like the sad and dramatic case of AIDS. It is encouraging to confirm that the AIDS campaign, with great social support, has allowed to break down the growth rate of this terrible illness, in particular during these last three years. Nevertheless, we must say, the problem still remains serious for the amount of infected people who don't even know they are. That's why, I reiterate, that not only we'll mantain but we'll also reinforce the AIDS campaign, because prevention keeps being the only realistic alternative that we have against what is known as the "Disease of the Century" and, of course, we'll keep doing the best possible effort to assist to whom sadly are already suffering the cruel illness, the compromise of the Government of the Republic with the health of all mexicans and specially our young ones, who are in major risk of infection, it's unrefusable and it doesn't admit backing outs." Dr. Ernesto Zedillo. President of Mexico. Fragment of the speach in the Day of the Doctor, october 23rd.

The Conjoint Program of the United Nations on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has decided, along with its sponsors and associates, to center the 1998 World Campaign Against AIDS on young people. Among the main reasons of this decision are the following: More than 50% of the new HIV infections, the virus which causes AIDS, are actually produced in young people in the age group from 10 to 24 years. Young people are specially vulnerable to HIV infection and are resulting seriously affected by the epidemic. Young people hav the ability to modify the course of the epidemic. This population group is not only infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, but it's the key resource to mobilize a wide and efficient response. UNAIDS.

In Mexico, the poorest 20% of population gathers only 4.2% of the total income of the country, while the wealthiest 20% has 55% of the national income. In 1995, the fortune of the wealthiest mexican citizen was equivalent to the income of 17 million of the poorest mexicans all together. Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

"In Latinamerica, we estimate that in 1997, 160 thousand people were infected by HIV, which is equivalent to approximately to the number of people that got infected in the same year in Europe and Northamerica together." Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

"Everyday, 16 thousand people get infected by HIV in the world. 75% of new AIDS cases are by sexual relations. Seven thousand are young people between the ages of 10 and 24, which means that every minute 5 youngsters get infected." Sally Cowel, UNAIDS Foreign Relations Secretary.

By year 2000, we'll all know someone with AIDS, it can be a friend, a work or school partner, a relative or maybe ourselves. World Health Organization.

"AIDS is the most complex public health program of the country." Dr. Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Health Secretary.

Drug approvals are faster every time, yet not fast enough.

This year's slogan of the AIDS Campaign will be:
"It's in the man's hands to change the course of the AIDS epidemic."

"I reiterate that the government of the Republic will not back off in the presence of any kind of pressure against public campaigns of family planification and AIDS prevention." Dr. Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico.

In 1988, in the age group from 25 to 34, AIDS was the 18th cause of death, while in 1992 it already had taken the 5th place. Among men, AIDS as a cause of death went from the 11th to the 4th place in 1991. In 1998 AIDS didn't appear within the first 20 causes of death in the women's group, but in 1992 it already had the 12th place. "Public Health in Mexico" - "Salud Pública de México" publication, from march/april of 1996, page 143. J. A. Izazola, M. García Valdez, H. J. Sánchez P., C. del Rio Chiriboga.

In Mexico, AIDS is the third cause of death at a national level among men in the ages from 25 to 24, and the sixth among women in that same age. General Office of Statistics and Computing of the Health Sector.

Every day, 16 thousand people contract HIV, from which, 7 thousand are in the age range from 10 to 24, which means that each minute 5 youngsters get infected. To date, 30 million 600 thousand have gotten infected. 90% of the AIDS cases are in third world countries. UNAIDS.

It is estimated that up to december 1997, the number of infected people worldwide is of 30.6 million of people, which almost doubles the estimated by experts a few years ago. During 1997 in all the world, more than 590 thousand children acquired the virus and it is estimated that from here to year 2010 there will be 42 million orphan children because of AIDS. UNAIDS.

According to the prevailing cases of AIDS, not the number, Mexico takes the 69th place worldwide and the 29th in Latinamerica and the Caribbean. CONASIDA.

According to a publication in the Reforma newspaper, in Mexico City everyday are committed 12 sexual crimes, 90% on women and 10% in men.

In public hospitals of the Federal District, every year are given 29 million of doctor appointments, including the Mexican Institute of Social Security, the Institute of Social Security to the Service of Government Workers, Armed Forces, Mexican Oil, health centers and Hospitals of the Federal District Department, from which 21 million are given to health benificiaries and the rest to the open public, according to data given by the director of the Health Institute of the Federal District. Manuel Ruiz de Chávez.

During 1996, a health budget for $10 thousand 641 million pesos was exercised. The budget for 1997 was of $18 thousand 421 million pesos.

Budget programmed for the branch 23 during 1996 was of $31 thousand 499 million pesos, from which only $6 thousand 640 million of pesos was exercised. For 1997 the budget was of $38 thousand 339 million pesos, more than the double of what was destined for health. Data published by the Reforma newspaper on November 13th, 1997.

In the project of Budget of the Federation for 1998, a health expense for $80 thousand million pesos is considered. This proyect calculates to incorporate 600 thousand additional people to the Wide Covering Program "PAC", indicating that it will attend 6 million 600 thousand mexicans in total with the Basic Packet of Health Services. PAC will cover in 1998 to two thirds of the population that in 1994 didn't have health services and lives in 600 of the poorest municipalities of the country.

There are 56 etnias in our country; this indigenous towns are formed by approximately 10 million of people, according to data from the Government Office.

In the actuality, there are 94.7 million of habitants in Mexico, if the expected population goals are met, for the year 2000 there will be 100 million, for the year 2010 there will be 112 million and for the year 2030 there will be 131 million. The national average age in which a woman gets married is at 20. In the middle and high classes, the woman dedicates 10.5 years to the raising of her children, which is the time that occurs from the birth of her first child until the last one grows to be 6 years old; in the poor class this period is of 25 years. Every year the population grows in 1 million 400 thousand habitants, and there are needed 1 million of new jobs. It is calculated that each year between 100 thousand and 150 thousand abortions are practiced. Source: National Council for Population - CONAPO.

In the last 20 years, birth rate in Mexico has decreased to 50%, on the other hand, pregnancy among teenagers under 20 doubled, giving the fifth part of births per year, which is equivalent to 450 thousand pregnancies. 67% of pregnant minors were born from teenager moms; only 17% of young couples use contraceptive methods. According to UNICEF numbers, published in the Reforma newspaper on March 15th, 1998, page 30.

In Mexico, 150 thousand women abort annually, according to data from the National Council of Population - CONAPO. But Non-Governmental Organizations, such as GIRE, estimate that they are 850 thousand.

INEGI informs that the gross domestic product from january to september, 1997, rised up to 396 billion 222.5 million dollars, which is equal to 4 thousand 182.70 per habitant.

According to information given by the SECOFI, from january to august, 1997, foreign investment was of $5,543 millions of dollars, mainly from the United States of America.

Data published by the La Jornada newspaper, shows that 40 million of mexicans live in poverty, 17 million in extreme poverty. One of each five families doesn't get enough income to buy the food required for the nutrition of its members. One of each two mexicans in the field and one of each nine in the city live in extreme poverty. In the Federal District there are 20 thousand street kids (13 thousand, according to the Human Rights Commission of the Federal District), 13 thousand homeless adults attending 424 shelters, 446 thousand indigenous people who earn less than minimum wage and 590 thousand elders who live from charity.

40 million of mexicans show malnutrition problems; of these 17.7 million live in urban zones and 22.3 million live in rural zones. Information given by Foodfirst Information and Action Network on the World Feeding Day.

According to the annual report "World state of childhood" of the United Nations Fund for the Children - UNICEF, in rural zones of Mexico, 58% of children under the age of 5 show physical and mental deficiencies due to malnutrition. The normal intelectual coefficient of 100, sees itself diminished by 10% and stature by 5 inches. According to a study conducted by Securities Action Capital, published in the newspaper La Jornada last december 9th, the delay index of commerce debtors in our country, went from 13.1% of the total credit portfolio in december of 1994, to 45.4% in 1995, to 49% in 1996 and to 53.1% in september 1997.

The Human Development Report of 1998, made by the United Nations, and spreaded by its Development Program of the United Nations - PNUD, on september 9th of 1998, considers that 14.9% of mexicans survive with a dollar a day.

Mexico has a human poverty index - IPX - of 10.7%, which means that this percentage of population is excluded in base of three essential elements: longevity, knowledge and quality of life.

This index, in which Mexico takes the 49th place worldwide, considers life expectancy, access to education and the real income level.

8% of mexicans won't live to be 40, 17% of population don't have access to drinkable water, 7% don't have any kind of health services and 28% don't have sanitation services.

Only 66% of population between the ages of 6 and 23 has access to education. In 1980 this percentage of 68%, in other words, the number has decreased against what was expected. Up to here the report of PNUD.

In our country, there are 9 million of people with some kind of disability.

Programs of banking rescue will channel fiscal funds way over 77 thousand, 400 million pesos ending 1977; while the following portfolio sales to the Bank Fund for the Savings Protection "FOBAPROA" got to 236 thousand 220.6 million pesos to the end of the first semester, equivalent to 28 thousand million one hundred and twenty one thousand five hundred dollars.

It is estimated that at the end of december of 1997 there are about 13,500 people living with AIDS, from which 50% don't have access to social security, and their individual treatment cost would go up to 84 thousand pesos a year at least, equivalent to 10 thousand dollars, for a total of 6,750 people of $ 67 million 500 thousand dollars, which is what FONSIDA expects to raise.

According to studies published by two of the most important diaries in Germany and reproduced by the Reforma newspaper, referring to the problems what the new government of the city of Mexico will have to face, say that "the indifferent and inefficient attitude of the police, that only gets to solve 2% of the total of reported crime, against 20% in New York, 30% in London and up to 60% in some german cities".

In the United States of America, 74 million of people have used some kind of illegal drug at a specific moment in their lives. There are 13 millon of frequent consumers of illegal subtances in this country. Main illegal drugs being consumed are: marihuana, cocaine, crack, LSD and heroine. A great number of americans begin cosuming drugs at the age of 12. According to data from the National Office for Drug Control of the White House of the United States of America, AIDS is an illness frequentl associated with illegal drug consuming in the United States of America.

"Halt on the development of an AIDS vaccine, violates all the ethic principles and human rights". Jonathan M. Mann.

Predictions say that there will be 100 million of people living with HIV/AIDS for the year 2007. UNAIDS.

Governments from each country should consider fight against AIDS as the main priority in the national agenda. Mrs. Ruth Cardoso. First lady of Brasil.

In Mexico, there are 60 million of people living in poverty, from which, 20 million are in extreme poverty, surviving with less than $2.00 dollars a day. Report from the World Bank.

In our country, there are 9 million people with some kind of disability.

FROM: http://www.aids-sida.org/_statistics05.html

A border incident

FROM LEBANON TO MEXICO??
Terence Jeffrey (back to web version)

June 25, 2003

When Border Patrol officials in San Diego learned last June about circumstances surrounding a dead body deposited at the county medical examiner's office, they sent over an agent with a radiation detector.

"It was an out-of-the-ordinary situation, where you had an individual from the Middle East who was found along our border," said Raleigh Leonard, spokesman for the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. The man had been dropped off at a local hospital, Leonard told me, "by people who said that he had crossed illegally into the United States and was subsequently found . . . throwing up blood."

He was 21-year-old Youseff Balaghi. He had come from faraway Lebanon to the border near Tijuana.

"He was suffering from some very serious illness that no one at that particular time could identify," said Leonard. "He died. He was turned over to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office. They called us."

"We did not perform an autopsy," said Dr. Jonathan Lucas, deputy medical examiner for San Diego County. The man's family, Lucas told me, refused consent for the procedure on religious grounds, but blood and urine samples were drawn for standard toxicology tests. These showed nothing particularly unusual, and the cause of death was listed as "undetermined."

By the time the Border Patrol arrived with its radiation detector, the body was gone but the blood and urine samples remained.

"At that time," said Leonard, "many of us were looking into information regarding dirty bombs.

"We had been studying and attending classes ever since September 11th in regards to terrorist-related activity so we are very keen on terrorist-type weapons, tactics, dirty bombs, different behavioral patterns, but also some of the sicknesses that are attributed to radiation poisoning," he said.

Fortunately, the detector showed Balaghi was clean.

That's the good news.

The bad news: Balaghi wasn't the only Middle Eastern illegal who slipped across our Mexican border.

Salim Boughader-Mucharrafille, a Tijuana restaurateur, conducted a regular business running Middle Easterners into California.

Last December, U.S. Attorney Carol C. Lam of San Diego unsealed an indictment charging Boughader, a Mexican citizen, and two other Mexicans, Patricia Serrano-Valdez and Jose Alvarez Duenas, with alien smuggling.

An affidavit filed in federal court by Senior Border Patrol Agent John R. Korkin said an investigation "positively identified at least 80 Lebanese nationals that have been, or were in the process of being, smuggled into the U.S. from November 19, 1999 to the present by a smuggling organization of affiliated individuals headed and coordinated by Boughader."

Boughader, Serrano and Duenas all cut plea bargains. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Skerlos, who prosecuted the case, said Serrano ran a safe house for Boughader in San Diego and Duenas was a "coyote" who guided aliens across the border. Boughader, Skerlos said, admitted in court to smuggling more than 100 people. Neither Serrano nor Duenas, he said, were involved in the incident that resulted in the death of Balaghi, but Boughader pleaded guilty in Balaghi's case to smuggling an alien "resulting in death."

I asked Skerlos whether any of the Middle Easterners smuggled by Boughader had ties to terrorist organizations. "No comment," he said.

Boughader's organization, said Korkin's affidavit, "employs several individuals and co-conspirators in various countries including Lebanon."

As a result of his plea bargain, Boughader will serve only one year and one day in prison. Hopefully, he has been induced to help investigators track his clients.

Since December, the San Diego Union-Tribune has run two reports revealing that Balaghi's remains were tested for radiation.

I asked Leonard how often the Border Patrol in his sector intercepts Middle Eastern illegals. "It happens," he said. "It's not by any means unusual. But it isn't every day."

"Radiation detectors," he also told me, "are being issued out to the Border Patrol agents. We are in the process of putting together a standard operations procedure packet, telling agents how to operate them . . . how they will be used, where they will be used. As soon as that is completed the devices will be issued out to the agents, absolutely.

"Just one more thing," said Leonard. "We're out there securing and protecting our nation's borders, and we take these terrorist and terrorist-related threats very seriously, and we're working hard to protect and secure our nation's borders."

That's a certainty. Law enforcement in San Diego -- from the Border Patrol, to the federal prosecutors to the county medical examiner -- are doing their best. But as long as Middle Eastern aliens keep sneaking in from Mexico, it is an equal certainty these officers are not getting all the support they need from policymakers in Washington.

FROM; http://www.townhall.com/columnists/terencejeffrey/printtj20030625.shtml

TRUCK TRAILER BECOMES A COFFIN

Source: PAULINE ARRILLAGA Associated Press
DALLAS --- It was midafternoon by the time the big rig rolled into Love's truck stop off I-20 in Dallas. As soon as the drivers climbed out, they heard fists pounding on the inside of the trailer walls.Jason Sprague lifted the latch. The cargo doors flew wide.More than 40 illegal immigrants --- packed into the unventilated cargo compartment 12 hours earlier --- came tumbling out.A woman, sobbing, hurled her fists at Sprague's co-driver, Troy Dock. Others, unable to move,

Published on May 25, 2004, Page A1, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA)

Mexico call over migrant deaths

Mexico says the deaths of 18 suspected illegal immigrants who suffocated inside a trailer in Texas shows the need to legalise the migration of workers across the US border.

A Mexican foreign ministry statement condemned what it called "this lamentable incident" and promised co-operation with the US in tackling immigrant trafficking.

The grim discovery of the bodies at a rest stop in Texas was one of the worst cases of people smuggling in the border area in recent years.

Survivors have been speaking of their desperation as they struggled to escape from the back of the tractor-trailer where it is believed up to 100 people were crammed.

One person inside the sweltering container used a mobile phone to make an emergency call, pleading in Spanish for help as people suffocated.

But the call could not be traced.

Police eventually found the trailer at a truck rest stop near the city of Victoria, about 370 kilometres (230 miles) from the Mexican border early on Wednesday.

The victims - many of them Mexicans but some from Central America - appeared to have died from suffocation and heat exhaustion, US officials said.

Desperation

Some of the 39 survivors in US custody have told Mexican consular officials that smugglers loaded them onto the trailer on Tuesday and the air conditioning inside at first worked well.

But when the driver unhooked his cab and abandoned the trailer some hours later, it soon became airless.

"In desperation, the people said they broke out the truck's taillights to try and attract someone's attention and perhaps get some air," Marco Nunez of the Mexican consul's office in Houston told AP.

Some of the victims were said to have torn off their clothes because of the heat.

Police have arrested the trailer's registered owner and are were still looking for two other people, US officials said.

The authorities also believe 40 illegal immigrants who tumbled out of the vehicle alive when it was opened managed to escape.

The Mexican Government has long pressed Washington to make it easier for Mexicans to come to the US legally.

Every year thousands of Latin Americans make the hazardous journey and are often at the mercy of smuggling gangs.

"This lamentable incident shows the need for and importance of achieving safe conditions on the border for migrants and the need for safe, legal and orderly migration," the foreign ministry statement read.

"The Mexican Government reiterates its commitment to fight gangs of immigrant traffickers and those who seek to profit at the expense of undocumented migrants."

DOORS TO DEATH: PART 1

Source: Associated Press
CHAPARRAL, N.M. --- The 18-wheeler pulled off the desert highway and rumbled down a pockmarked clay road, its headlights raking a desolate hamlet of double-wides. The big rig, making an unscheduled detour at the start of a midnight run from El Paso to Dallas, slowed as it approached a dingy mobile home. Then the headlights snapped off. It turned through a gap in a chain-link fence and backed in close to the house. Jason Sprague climbed down from the cab and swung open the trailer's

Published on May 24, 2004, Page A1, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MIGRANT FOES

Source: Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. --- President Bush's plan to give undocumented workers temporary legal status brings back painful memories for Florentino Lararios, who spent 14 grueling years in a similar World War II-era program. Lararios, a 77-year-old with large, rough hands that never mastered a pencil, recalls the back-breaking work picking cotton in the South, the slapped-together communal housing, the cold meals eaten in the fields, and the unwelcome prospect of going back to Mexico without a

Published on January 14, 2004, Page C7, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA)

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BUSH PLANS TO HELP ILLEGALS

Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON --- Promoting a plan that could brighten his election-year prospects with Hispanic voters, President Bush on Wednesday proposed legal status --- at least temporarily --- for millions of illegal immigrants working in the United States. But the sweeping policy overhaul, offered with few specifics, also angered many in the president's conservative Republican base of support and drew criticism from advocacy groups who questioned whether it would do much to help

Published on January 8, 2004, Page A1, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA)

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

- Jose Latour's Port of Entry Daily Column -

Guys, today's article is based on some research that Cynthia, "my shiny, brilliant new assistant," dug up on MSNBC. The information is a little grim, it is very compelling and, I'm afraid, it is indicative of where our national immigration policy seems to be headed.

Let's start off with a sobering fact: according to the statistics kept by the Mexican government, here's a look at the fatalities of Mexicans on the border for the past five years:

1997 - 129 deaths
1998 - 297 deaths
1999 - 358 deaths
2000 - 455 deaths
2001 (through Sept. of that year, the latest statistics available) - 303 deaths

While the 2001 statistic indicates a comparative reduction in border deaths when contrasted with the prior year, the overall pattern is clear: more Mexicans are dying on the border. Why?

According to MSNBC and various other sources we've researched, human rights groups are blaming increased enforcement by the U.S. Border Patrol as a primary reason. But how exactly does a nation's protection of its own border cause the deaths of those seeking to unlawfully enter the country? Moreover, does a nation's sovereign right to control entry onto its own soil carry with it extraordinary responsibilities designed to ensure that, in their desperation, the would-be illegal migrants do not risk life and limb to circumvent the deterrents to their entry?

In 1994, the U.S. Border Patrol launched Operation "Gate Keeper" at the border near San Diego, where the majority of illegal Mexican entries into the United States occur. The operation has resulted in increased manpower, expanded fencing, intensified lighting, and amplified monitoring via underground sensors designed to sense the movement of individuals across the ground. These enforcement tools have resulted in the migrants seeking to cross more difficult terrain to enter the United States. Accordingly, by crossing through more difficult parts of the desert and by the traversing of the Rio Grande, the major causes of death among would-be migrants are drowning and heatstroke according to the California Rural Assistance Foundation.

Now, I have to be careful how I ask this question, but I must ask it:

How can human rights groups blame the U.S. government for the deaths of these individuals when the only thing that the U.S. government has done is increase enforcement, completely appropriate with national sovereignty laws?

In other words, if the U.S. government has a responsibility to leave open easy routes for illegal migration into the United States, we are essentially asking the federal government to give up its sovereign right. By blaming the federal government for these deaths, human rights groups are essentially placing the responsibility for the motivation of illegal migration on the U.S. government, and I respectfully submit to you that is not fair. A cause and effect explanation of the deaths, yes, absolutely! But to blame the U.S. Border Patrol is simply unconscionable.

No sir, the fault for these tragic deaths in the desert and through drowning lies squarely on the groups of cowardly "coyotes," the weasel alien smugglers who take the big bucks to violate our federal laws. They are the primary parties responsible for these tragic deaths.

Secondly, as politically incorrect as it is, the second most responsible parties are the individuals themselves who embark upon these journeys to make an illegal entry. (Yes, I see the tomatoes flying. I understand that these individuals are desperate and seeking new lives in the United States. I further understand that they come from impoverished countries and are seeking better lives, but I also understand that these individuals are consciously making the decision to enter illegally into another country in defiance of that country's laws and, as adult human beings, are making calculated decisions in doing so. For human rights organizations to blame the Border Patrol for the death of an individual who has made such a decision is simply to place blame on the wrong party. Free will exists in these situations.)

Okay, enough with the tomatoes.

In the MSNBC report much is made of the fact that Mr. Bush was courting Mexico's President Fox with vague promises of some sort of amnesty to resolve the status of the estimated three million illegal Mexicans residing in the United States. After September 11, the notion of amnesty for illegal aliens seems as elusive as peace in the Middle East. But consider these numbers and you will understand the nature of the issue:

From 1901 - 1970, approximately 1.5 million Mexicans immigrated legally to the United States.
From 1981 - 1990, less than nine years, more than 1.6 million Mexicans did the same thing.
From 1991 - 1998, 1.9 million immigrated legally.

It is evident that the number of Mexicans immigrating legally to the United States is certainly not decreasing. The number immigrating illegally is equally on the rise.

In fiscal year 2000, from October 1, 2000 until September 30, 2001, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 1,643,679 illegal aliens along the border. The largest increase, according to MSNBC, has been in Arizona while there was a decline along the California border, historically the busiest entry point for illegal aliens into the U.S.

What does all this mean for the rest of us who are not from Mexico but who are concerned about immigration policy? It's hard to tell right now, but these are the questions that must be answered in the coming months and years:

How will the U.S. formulate an immigration policy that gives Mexico the special treatment she deserves as our southern neighbor with very unique immigration needs?
How will the U.S. formulate an ongoing evolution of trade policy addressing the reality that Mexico's illegal immigration stems almost solely from economic need, not cultural preference?

FROM: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:tLXlFs4TmLEJ:www.usvisanews.com/memo1727.html+illegal+mexicans+
deaths&hl=en

Summary

About 5.0 million undocumented immigrants were residing in the United States in October 1996, with a range of about 4.6 to 5.4 million . The population was estimated to be growing by about 275,000 each year, which is about 25,000 lower than the annual level of growth estimated by the INS in 1994.

California is the leading state of residence, with 2.0 million, or 40 percent of the undocumented population. The 7 states with the largest estimated numbers of undocumented immigrants--California (2.0 million), Texas (700,000), New York (540,000), Florida (350,000), Illinois (290,000), New Jersey (135,000), and Arizona (115,000)--accounted for 83 percent of the total population in October 1996.

The 5.0 million undocumented immigrants made up about 1.9 percent of the total U.S. population, with the highest percentages in California, the District of Columbia, and Texas. In the majority of states, undocumented residents comprise less than 1 percent of the population.

Mexico is the leading country of origin, with 2.7 million, or 54 percent, of the population. The Mexican undocumented population has grown at an average annual level of just over 150,000 since 1988. The 15 countries with 50,000 or more undocumented immigrants in 1996 accounted for 82 percent of the total population. The large majority, over 80 percent, of all undocumented immigrants are from countries in the Western Hemisphere.

About 2.1 million, or 41 percent, of the total undocumented population in 1996 are nonimmigrant overstays. That is, they entered legally on a temporary basis and failed to depart. The proportion of the undocumented population who are overstays varies considerably by country of origin. About 16 percent of the Mexican undocumented population are nonimmigrant overstays, compared to 26 percent of those from Central America, and 91 percent from all other countries.

Background

In 1994 the INS released detailed estimates of the undocumented immigrant population residing in the United States as of October 1992. Those estimates were useful for a variety of purposes, including planning and policy development at the national and state level, evaluating the effects of proposed legislation, and assessing the fiscal impacts of undocumented immigration.

Over the past 2 years, the INS has revised those estimates and updated them to October 1996. The estimates presented here incorporate new data on the foreign-born population collected by the Census Bureau, improvements in the methodology recommended by the General Accounting Office (GAO), suggestions provided by outside reviewers, and further analyses of INS' data sources and estimation procedures. Revised and updated estimates of the undocumented population have been computed for each state of residence and for nearly 100 countries of origin.

Methodology

The estimates were constructed by combining detailed statistics, by year of entry, for each component of change that contributes to the undocumented immigrant population residing in the United States. For most countries of the world, the typical way of entering the undocumented population in the United States is to arrive as a nonimmigrant and stay beyond the specified period of admission. This segment of the population, referred to here as "nonimmigrant overstays", constitutes roughly 40 percent of the undocumented immigrant population residing in the United States. The rest of the population, more widely publicized, enter surreptitiously across land borders, usually between official ports of entry. This part of the population, often referred to as EWIs (entry without inspection), includes persons from nearly every country, but a large majority of them are from Mexico; most of the rest are natives of Central American countries.

Primary Sets of Data

The figures presented here were constructed from five primary sets of data. Each set of data was compiled separately for 99 countries and each continent of origin.

1) Entered before 1982--estimates (as of October 1988) of the undocumented immigrant population who established residence in the United States before 1982 and did not legalize under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. The assumption used to estimate this part of the population is based on estimates developed by the Census Bureau using data from the June 1988 Current Population Survey (CPS).

2) Net overstays--estimates for 1982 to 1996 of the net number of nonimmigrant overstays, for 99 countries of origin, derived from INS data bases. Estimates were derived by: a) matching INS I-94 arrival/departure records; b) adjusting for the incomplete collection of departure forms; and c) subtracting the number of nonimmigrant overstays who subsequently either departed or adjusted to legal resident status.

3) Net EWIs--estimates of the number from each country who entered without inspection (EWI) and established residence here between 1982 and 1996. A very large majority of all EWIs are from Mexico. Average annual estimates of Mexican EWIs were derived by: a) adjusting the CPS count of the Mexican-born population for underenumeration; b) subtracting the estimated legally resident population counted in the CPS; and c) subtracting the estimated number of net overstays.

4) Mortality--estimates of the annual number of deaths to the resident undocumented immigrant population. The estimates were derived using an annual crude death rate of 3.9 per 1,000, which was computed using a modified age distribution of IRCA applicants and age-specific death rates of the foreign-born population.

5) Emigration--estimates of the number of undocumented immigrants who resided here at the beginning of a period (either October 1988 or October 1992), and who emigrated from the United States in the following 4-year period. Estimates of emigration are based on statistics published by the Census Bureau in Technical Paper No. 9.

Construction of the Estimates

Estimates of the undocumented immigrant population were derived for October 1988, October 1992, and October 1996 for 99 individual countries and for each continent of origin. The calculations were carried out separately for overstays and EWIs.

Estimates by State of Residence

In the earlier estimates for October 1992, the state distribution of the undocumented population was based on the U.S. residence pattern of each country's applicants for legalization under IRCA; the results were summed to obtain state totals. This assumed that, for each country of origin, undocumented immigrants who resided in the United States in October 1992 had the same U.S. residence pattern as IRCA applicants from that country. The revised and updated estimates presented here incorporate the same assumption for the October 1988 undocumented population. However, it was necessary to develop new methods of deriving state estimates for October 1992 and 1996 that would reflect more recent patterns of geographic settlement.

As noted, the estimates of the undocumented population were constructed separately for overstays and EWIs. This permitted the distribution of the overstay and EWI populations to states using data most appropriate for the type of population. For overstays, the cohorts that arrived in the 1988-92 and 1992-96 periods were distributed to state of residence based on annual estimates of overstays by state of destination for 1986 to 1989. For EWIs who entered during these periods, the totals were distributed to state of residence using INS statistics for the early 1990s on the destination of the beneficiaries of aliens who legalized under IRCA.

Limitations

Estimating the size of a hidden population is inherently difficult. Overall, the figures presented here generally reflect the size, origin, and geographic distribution of the undocumented immigrant population residing in the United States during the mid-1990s. The estimates probably reduce the range of error for the total population to a few hundred thousand rather than a few million, which was the error range during the late 1970s and into the 1980s. The estimates for most countries should be fairly precise because they were constructed primarily from data on nonimmigrant arrivals, departures, and adjustments of status that have relatively small margins of error.

Although the estimates are based on the most reliable information available, they clearly have limitations. For example, the estimates make no allowance for students or other long-term nonimmigrants, and the estimates for some countries could be underestimated because of special circumstances (e.g., Dominicans entering illegally via Puerto Rico; ships arriving undetected from China).

The figures for some countries overstate the actual undocumented population. In general, the net nonimmigrant overstay figures are more likely to be overestimates than underestimates because the collection of departure forms for long-term overstays who depart probably is less complete than for those who depart within the first year.

The estimates include a large number of persons who have not been admitted for lawful permanent residence but are permitted to remain in the United States pending the determination of their status or until conditions improve in their country of origin. This category includes many of the undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, aliens from other countries in a status referred to as "deferred enforced departure", and IRCA applicants whose cases have not been finally resolved.

In a few cases, the estimates appear to be too high, but we have no basis for making downward adjustments. For example, the estimates for the Bahamas appear to be much too large because they imply that a relatively large proportion of the population is residing illegally in the United States, whereas large-scale undocumented immigration from the Bahamas has not been observed previously. In addition, undocumented immigration from Dominica is considerably higher than would be expected based on the number of IRCA applicants from Dominica. This overstatement could have occurred because of processing problems with I-94 arrival/departure documents, with the result that overstays from Dominica are overestimated and those from the Dominican Republic underestimated.

The number of EWIs is the most difficult component to estimate with precision, and errors in this component have the largest effect on the estimated undocumented population from Mexico. In particular, the shortage of information about two components--emigration of legally resident immigrants and undercount in the CPS--makes it difficult to derive acceptable residual estimates of the number of undocumented immigrants counted in the CPS.

The estimates presented here are based on the most extensive array of figures ever compiled for the purpose; nevertheless, they should be used with caution because of the inherent limitations in the data available for estimating the undocumented immigrant population. This uncertainty was addressed by using alternative assumptions to produce "high" and "low" population estimates for October 1996. In the following discussion of the estimates, the mid-range population figures are used for simplicity of presentation.

Results

National Estimates

The total number of undocumented immigrants residing in the United States in October 1996 is estimated to be 5.0 million , with a range of about 4.6 to 5.4 million. The estimate for October 1996 is about 1.1 million higher than the revised estimate of 3.9 million for October 1992; this implies that the population grew by about 275,000 annually during the 1992-96 period, about the same as the annual growth of 281,000 estimated for the previous period. The original INS estimates for October 1992 and October 1988, released in 1994, showed average annual growth of 300,000.

The undocumented population grows at varying levels from year to year, but the data available to make these estimates do not permit the derivation of annual figures to measure year-to-year changes. However, the similar levels of growth for the 1988-92 and 1992-96 periods, 281,000 and 275,000, respectively, suggest that the overall level of growth has been fairly constant over the past decade. This also indicates that the rate of growth of the undocumented resident population has declined since 1988.

State of Residence

The estimates for states reflect the well-established pattern of geographic concentration of undocumented immigrants in the United States. As expected, California was the leading state of residence, with 2.0 million, or 40 percent, of the total number of undocumented residents in October 1996. Seven states--California (2.0 million), Texas (700,000), New York (540,000), Florida (350,000), Illinois (290,000), New Jersey (135,000), and Arizona (115,000)--accounted for 83 percent of the population in October 1996.

The estimated undocumented population of California has grown by an average of about 100,000 annually since the end of the IRCA legalization program in 1988. More than 83 percent of total growth of the undocumented population since 1988 has occurred in the top seven states. With the exception of Massachusetts (6,000), none of the remaining 43 states grew by more than 3,000 undocumented residents annually. In 27 states, the undocumented population grew by an average of 1,000 or less each year.

Country of Origin

Mexico is the leading source country of undocumented immigration to the United States. In October 1996 an estimated 2.7 million undocumented immigrants from Mexico had established residence here . Mexican undocumented immigrants constituted about 54 percent of the total undocumented population. The estimated population from Mexico increased by just over 150,000 annually in both the 1988-92 and 1992-96 periods.

The estimated number of Mexican undocumented immigrants who arrived between 1990 and 1996 is based on data on country of birth and year of immigration collected by the Census Bureau in the March 1994, 1995, and 1996 Current Population Surveys (CPS) Demographic analysis of the CPS data indicates that approximately 230,000 undocumented Mexican immigrants established residence annually between 1990 and 1996. This is the net annual addition of undocumented Mexicans who arrived during the period. Note, however, that it does not reflect the average annual growth of the Mexican undocumented population. To compute average annual growth it is necessary to subtract the number of undocumented Mexicans who lived here in January 1990 and who emigrated, died, or adjusted to legal permanent resident status during the 1990-96 period. This last step produces the estimate cited above of just over 150,000 annual growth of the Mexican undocumented population since 1988.

In October 1996, 15 countries were each the source of 50,000 or more undocumented immigrants. The top five countries are geographically close to the United states--Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Canada, and Haiti. Of the top 15 countries, only the Philippines and Poland are outside the Western Hemisphere. The estimated undocumented population from Poland has declined by more than 25 percent, from 95,000 to 70,000, since 1988, possibly reflecting changed conditions in that country over the last several years.

Although undocumented immigrants come to the United States from all countries the world, relatively few countries add substantially to the population. The annual growth of the undocumented population can be grouped into four disparate categories: 1) Mexico, with more than half of the annual growth, adds just over 150,000 undocumented residents each year; 2) six countries--El Salvador, Guatemala, Canada, Haiti, Honduras, and the Bahamas--each add between 6,000 and 12,000 annually; 3) thirteen countries each add about 2,000 to 4,000 annually; and 4) the remaining approximately 200 other countries add a total of about 30,000 undocumented residents each year . A large majority of the additions each year, more than 80 percent, are from countries in the Western Hemisphere.

FROM: http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/illegalalien/

Silver Lake Gang War
Homeboys and hipsters struggle to claim Silver Lake by Christine Pelisek
Oct 10-16, 2003

On a recent afternoon a Latino woman and her son wearily shuffle past a makeshift shrine in front of a shabby apartment complex on the 700 block of Vendome Street. The shrine, nearly obscured by a discarded mattress and other litter, is dedicated to Valentin Rangel, a member of the Silver Lake 13 gang. He died there in a hail of bullets over Labor Day weekend, two months shy of his 26th birthday. A half-dozen Mexican religious candles, a few still burning, decorate the scene. A photo of a smiling Rangel is propped up next to them. Scattered alongside the photo are personal mementos . two skateboarding magazines, a pair of black sunglasses and a Holy Bible. .RIP Val. is spray-painted on the street in front of the memorial. Across the street, on the corner of Vendome and Marathon, a small bouquet of wildflowers and one Mexican candle mark the spot where Rangel.s brother Mario was gunned down 13 years earlier by rival gang members and where Valentin himself was shot before stumbling across the street to his apartment complex.

A deep fly ball from there, the type of urban hipsters who have earned Silver Lake its bonhomie-boho image obliviously sip caf con leches at the Tropical Caf and discuss Tsar.s latest show at Spaceland. The two scenes illuminate the stubborn contrast between Silver Lake.s chic main drag and the neighborhood south of Sunset Boulevard. In the streets abutting Vendome and Marathon, a spate of gang violence that started on Labor Day weekend has been responsible for several drive-bys, a car bombing, two deaths, and the rattled nerves of longtime residents and more recent arrivals who hoped the checkered neighborhood had made the transition from barrio to bourgeois.

Though gang activity has long been a part of the landscape in Silver Lake, particularly south of Sunset, residents say the recent violence, which has sent at least 40 gunshots echoing through the neighborhood, is unprecedented. On August 29, the first six shots took the life of Rangel. Another gang-related shooting . possibly tied to Rangel.s murder . only a week later and just blocks away on Bellevue left an Angelino Heights gang member injured and his friend, 28-year-old Juan Monsivais, dead. More recently, members of La Mirada gang unloaded a hail of bullets across a busy park at an SUV they believed to be carrying enemy gang members.

The level of gang violence occurring in this area, while far from the city.s worst, is happening at the same time property values have gone up 33 percent this year alone and .bargain. homes are selling for more than a half-million dollars just north of Sunset. The unexpected rash of violence here illustrates a gangs-versus-gentrification drama that.s likely to play out in other neighborhoods across the city as the overheated housing market pushes prospective new homeowners deeper into the fringes of long-held gang turf.

"I think that people thought the property values would automatically help with a problem like gangs, and I guess that.s not necessarily the case. They can still come into the neighborhood and do what they want," said Linda Froiland, who moved here three years ago from Minnesota and who is co-president of the Silver Lake Improvement Association.

Police are unsure how or even if the recent violence is connected. Locals, though, point to a heated graffiti-tagging war between rival gangs in the area, one headed by Rangel, as the spark.

By all accounts, and judging from the audacious way he.d sign his name to his tags, Rangel was the main provocateur in the graffiti battle that at first presented locals with more of a nuisance than a threat when it flared up six months ago. His signature tag, .SL13Val,. sprayed on the cars, homes and businesses in streets around Vendome and Marathon became a common sight in the neighborhood. It was often scrawled over 18th Street gang graffiti. A former gang member familiar with the area says Rangel was asserting control of the area for .recruiting, to sell drugs and claim the street."

The gang member, who asked not to be identified, believes that four gangs are currently vying for the drug trade that has been going on in the area since the 1970s, when the 18th Street gang ruled the streets. At one time, a dealer could make $800 a night selling dope on the corner of Vendome and Marathon with little threat of being arrested. Recently, the Aztlan member, who dealt out of his apartment on Vendome.

The back-and-forth tagging showed clearly, though, that the main beef was between Rangel.s Silver Lake 13 and the 18th Street gangs. Residents and observers speculate that police efforts to clear gangs from MacArthur Park . where 18th Street had a stranglehold on the Bonnie Brae drug traffic and was known to tax street vendors . as well as a successful court injunction that made it illegal for 18th Street gang members to congregate near their former stronghold in the Pico-Union area, pushed them west in search of new turf.

"It is the supply-and-demand thing," said Froiland. "There had been an illegal business operating here for 20 years. When we got rid of the people, it became open territory for other gangs to come in and sell drugs there."

Rangel, apparently, didn.t put out the welcome mat.

"They [18th Street] don't belong in this area," said a longtime friend of Rangel.s who asked to remain anonymous. .Those guys want to take over everywhere. Before, they stuck to MacArthur Park. They have a shitty-ass town where they live. They get anyone in and they kill their own people. They want to corrupt this side of town. Nobody wants to see someone come to their house and start their own business there."

.It is a matter of pride,. said Senior Lead Officer Al Polehonki of the LAPD.s Northeast Division. .You aren.t going to let someone from another gang spray in your area. If you are in a gang and another gang comes by, it is like a challenge to you..

What started as a nuisance became more threatening when a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a parked SUV just after midnight in July, weeks before Rangel was gunned down. The firebomb smashed through the driver.s window of the SUV, engulfing the vehicle in flames within seconds. Residents, afraid the vehicle would explode, put out the fire long before firemen arrived on the scene about a half-hour later.

Fears that animosities were heating up in the neighborhood were confirmed on Friday, August 29, with the late-summer skies just faded to black. The streets, where young children on scooters are a common sight, were mostly bare at 8:55 p.m. except for Rangel, who was standing on the northwest corner of Vendome and Marathon when a white Toyota minivan pulled up alongside him. Two male Latinos jumped out of the car and walked toward Rang