| ANOTHER TRAGIC BORDER CROSSING |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, February 04 2002 |
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| It's an all-too-familiar story. Six people are found dead and 11 others are still missing several days after an overcrowded boat capsizes in a river. Most were immigrants trying to cross the border illegally. But it was not the Rio Grande, and these immigrants were not Mexicans. They were Salvadorans and Guatemalans crossing the Usumacinta River, on the border between Mexico and Guatemala, just a couple of weeks ago. That is where the journey begins for many Central Americans who dream of reaching the United States and escaping poverty, unemployment and violence in their homelands. For many of these desperate people, the dream quickly turns into a nightmare.
When hundreds of immigrants cross this southern border illegally on a daily basis, there are no border-patrol guards or sophisticated night-vision cameras searching for them. As a matter of fact, there are long stretches along the border completely unwatched or unsupervised. But the biggest danger for these immigrants is not just being caught and deported. It's becoming victims of ruthless smugglers or corrupt government officials. If they are lucky enough to survive the trip across the border, they face everything from assaults, robbery and rape to being swindled. And not only by delinquents, but by ruthless police officers or human smugglers who charge them anywhere from $1,000 to $15,000 for transporting them.
Recently, authorities in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas denounced a carefully orchestrated network of human smuggling. It's a multi-million-dollar industry, in which profits are split among the smugglers - known as "coyotes" - members of the federal police, the attorney general's office and even the National Institute of Migration, according to Alejandro Cossio, the Mexican immigration official who oversees the southern region. It works something like this: The coyotes pay off the government officials, who, in turn, radio in to their colleagues which taxis, buses, cars or trains should go uninspected.
There are efforts to curtail illegal crossings on the southern Mexican border. The "Beta Groups," for example, are supposed to rescue immigrants who are lost or in danger and discourage them from crossing. Their main purpose is to protect them from inhumane treatment. Then there is the so-called "Plan Sur," or "Southern Plan," implemented by the government of President Vicente Fox in June of 2001, which includes governments of Central America and the Caribbean nations. In the first stages of the plan, several thousand undocumented immigrants were caught and sent back to their countries. But these efforts have neither stopped the flow of immigrants nor have they resulted in more humane treatment.
If Mexico and its Central American neighbors are serious about solving the immigration problem, they have to do a number of things. First, they have to practice what they preach. If they demand a more humane treatment of their citizens at the U.S. border and once they have crossed into the country illegally, then they have to do the same. It's true that these people are exposing themselves to treacherous conditions and cruel treatment. But it is totally unacceptable to allow such abuses to occur with impunity. The government of Mexico particularly needs to root out the poison within its institutions and make sure that corrupt government officials and law-enforcement officers are brought to justice for such abuses and for taking advantage of the despair of these immigrants to fill their pockets with dirty money. These countries need to crack down on human smugglers and warn their citizens of the dangers they face. But most importantly, they need to work harder at improving the living and working conditions of their citizens so that they are not compelled to risk their lives and head north in search of a better life. An essential duty of any government is to provide fair conditions so its citizens can lead meaningful lives, not end their lives at the bottom of the Usumacinta River or the Rio Grande. |
