According to some data, in 2005 alone, at least 500 people died trying to cross the desert, where daytime temperatures can reach plus 45 degrees Celsius. “We are not trying to support or even encourage the illegal crossing of the state border,” Mauricio Farah, an inspector of Mexico’s National Human Rights Agency, told journalists. “All we want is to warn people about possible dangers and threats, as well as places where they can quench their thirst.”
He also reported that the map-booklet, in addition to information about 70 drinking water cisterns, will mark areas with good mobile phone signal reception, as well as tips and recommendations for covering long distances in the desert. It is known that about 1.5 million copies of the free maps have already been ordered, which will be delivered over the course of a year to various border towns along the Mexican-American border, which stretches for 3,200 km.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government’s decision to start handing out booklets to potential illegal immigrants was met with extreme negativity in conservative circles in the United States. “What will be the next step? Are they going to buy them bus tickets to Chicago?” asks Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a right-wing public organization based in Washington. “Without a doubt, what Mexico is doing now is wrong. These actions encourage the illegal crossing of the state border.”
A heated discussion over illegal immigration and the common border between Mexico and the United States has been ongoing since 2000, when Mexico City proposed that Washington sign an agreement on migration policy reform. However, this agreement is still being discussed in Congress, and its prospects for approval remain very unclear. Mexico believes that this problem can be solved only through legal methods, creating reliable mechanisms for controlling and coordinating the flows of illegal immigrants, granting temporary work rights in the United States to those who come for seasonal earnings. In other words, legalization of their presence on American territory is required.
Let us recall that in December of last year, the Bush administration announced its decision to build a multi-meter wall along the US-Mexico border, which provoked a storm of protest from Mexican politicians, including President Vicente Fox, who called it “shameful and humiliating.” “The construction of walls and the daily strengthening of technological security systems have become a constant factor in violating basic human rights – to life and to work. I must note that these measures will not protect the economy of the United States, as Washington hopes,” Fox emphasized. The White House, in turn, justifies its decision by fighting international terrorism and the need to curb the growing flow of illegal immigrants from Latin America.
According to various estimates, approximately 11 million Mexicans permanently reside in the United States, of whom more than a third (about 4 million) are on American territory illegally. In addition, more than a million Mexican citizens are detained each year for illegally crossing the border. Few dispute the enormous contribution of Mexicans to the US economy. They mostly perform the hardest and most unskilled work (the kind a typical American would never do) and moreover for minimal monetary compensation.
Of course, migrants make an equally significant contribution to the Mexican economy by sending home money earned in the United States. For example, in 2005, according to banking experts, Mexico will receive a record amount of remittances – over $17 billion – which is the second-largest source of foreign currency earnings for this Latin American country, after oil exports.