ECUMENICAL PRAYER SERVICE

FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

at La Placita Olvera (Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish)

10:00 am, Friday, February 24

On February 1, the Dolores Mission faith community announced a month of prayer and fasting in the hope that the political leaders of our country will pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation as opposed to HR 4437, which is narrowly focused on border enforcement and punishment. In the days following our press conference, we received hundreds of messages of fellowship and solidarity from people of faith and goodwill in the Los Angeles area, expressing their own commitment to pray and fast on this important topic.

We ask you to join us as we gather leaders and members of the various faith traditions from throughout our city for a morning of prayer and fellowship. Our goal is to provide a public witness of common prayer—demonstrating to our political representatives the genuine solidarity among leaders of our faith communities that we stand for immigration reform that is fair, humane, and rooted in compassion for the stranger in our midst.

Please join us in prayer, fellowship, and peace.

HR 4437: The Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act

Criminalizes the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S and further erodes due process. The legislation creates a new federal crime of "unlawful presence," classified as an aggravated felony. Punishment includes imprisonment, immediate deportation (without a hearing), and being forbidden from ever being able to secure lawful immigration status, no matter their family status.

Criminalizes organizations and individuals assisting undocumented immigrants. Anyone who knowingly assists an undocumented person are considered "alien smugglers," subject to prosecution, fines, and possibly imprisonment. Priests, doctors, teachers, social service agencies, even family members and volunteers could face federal prison time for their assistance.

Grants local law enforcement agencies authority to enforce federal immigration laws. When police act as immigration enforcement, it undermines their ability to keep communities safe—fearing police attention, families will be discouraged from reporting crime. Undocumented immigrants will become more vulnerable to crime and exploitation.

Expands the Basic Pilot Program employee verification database. All employees in the U.S. would be required to be part of a computerized verification program. The current version of the test program has proven faulty, leading to errors and discrimination that affects U.S. citizens and legally authorized workers.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform:a Just Approach to Legislation

Inspired by Scripture and directed toward justice, Dolores Mission Parish joins many other faith communities in insisting that immigration reform acknowledge and uphold the inherent dignity of the human person; the primacy of the human family; the fact of interdependence within our economy; and the requirement of due process for justice.

Therefore, throughout the month of February, we are praying, fasting, and advocating that our national legislators adopt Comprehensive Immigration Reform that includes the following components:

Legalization process for immigrants who currently do not have legal documents.

Reunification priority for families of mixed immigration status that face separation.

Legal labor program that provides opportunities for future immigrants to enter our country as laborers.

Guaranteed labor protections for immigrant workers that protect them from abuse, exploitation, and discrimination, and protecting basic human rights.

Restoration of due process for migrants and refugees who deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and fairness in our economic and judicial system.

Mexico's 'Southern Plan': The Facts

Crackdown Underway on Migration from Central America

Velia Jaramillo, Proceso (liberal newsmagazine), Mexico City, Mexico, June 26, 2001.

“Plan Sur” (Southern Plan), announced by the Mexican government [on June 19], may already be underway. Over a period of 15 days, starting on June 4, the southern border of Mexico was the stage for a large-scale police action that resulted in more than 6,000 deportations of illegal aliens to Guatemala from Mexico and 3,000 Central Americans located in Guatemala back to the borders of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and neighboring countries.

This is a part of a regional program backed by U.S. authorities in which the governments of Mexico, the Central American nations, and the countries of the Caribbean Basin are taking part. Its first phase ran from June 4 to June 20, as confirmed by the director of Guatemalan immigration, Luis Mendizábal.

According to this Guatemalan official, the reinforcement of anti-immigration actions on the border between Guatemala and Mexico is the initial stage of the Southern Plan in Mexico. Because of these measures, the flow of undocumented migrants illegally returning to Mexico from the Guatemalan border was reduced by 30 percent.

The prelude to the Mexican government’s Southern Plan, also known as “orderly and secure repatriation,” had its counterpart in Guatemala called “Venceremos 2001” (We Shall Overcome 2001). This operation mobilized more than 200 police agents over the past few weeks. They checked hotels, parks, bars, brothels, and public areas in search of illegal aliens living in border cities, mainly Tecún Umán, on the border across from Hidalgo in Chiapas state. More than 1,200 foreigners who reside there as a floating population, awaiting the chance to cross over into Mexico on their way to the United States, were detained and sent back to their countries.

In this program, the participation of the Mexican army was confined to cordoning off certain areas, according to information provided by Mendizábal. The director of the Centro de Apoyo al Migrante (Immigrant Support Center) of the Social Pastoral Initiative of Guatemala, Mauro Verzeletti, reported that according to statements by immigrants who managed to evade the checkpoints, the Mexican army is already taking part in identity checks.

Between June 4 and June 17, Mexico deported 6,000 illegal aliens, of whom 50 percent were Guatemalan, 28 percent Honduran, and 22 percent Salvadoran, according to Mendizábal. Simultaneous operations throughout the entire border with Mexico, conducted by the Guatemalan Department of Immigration with the support of the Civilian National Police, concluded in the same period with the detention and deportation of 3,666 people from Guatemala. More than 1,600 Hondurans, 1,500 Salvadorans, 100 Nicaraguans, and 400 from other countries, including Pakistan, India, Ecuador, Peru, and Iran, were transported from the border to hostels in Guatemala City and deported that same day to the border of the country from which they entered, according to the Guatemalan official.

Starting on June 4 as a part of this plan for massive deportations, more than 18 buses carrying deportees were moving out on a daily basis. Until Venceremos, the immigrants expelled by Mexico were transported to the border with Guatemala, and hundreds of them remained in that area. “Now, the government of the United States has supported the expenses connected with the transportation of these people from Guatemala back to their own countries,” the immigration official pointed out.

He reported that the inspections were extended to Honduras and El Salvador, where about 1,000 illegal aliens were detected. The countries involved in the anti-immigration program shared information on trafficking and illegal immigration rings, Mendizábal emphasized. He explained that Venceremos and its counterparts in the region concluded this past Wednesday, “but an evaluation will be done, and if it is positive, we will consider continuing this project for the whole year. I think that the results have been favorable, but we have to review the type of economic support we are going to get in order to continue it.”

He reported that in border areas like Tecún Umán, those deported [from Mexico] used to live as a marginalized population, sleeping in parks and on sidewalks, and in some cases, joining criminal groups or prostitution rings, thus creating insecurity and fear among local residents. Now that the deportees have been moved out, he assured us, crime has begun to decrease.

As to whether the plan is in effect, Guatemalan authorities offered differing versions. While the director for immigration maintained that this plan has already started, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Edgar Arana, assured us that Venceremos 2001 is a program distinct from the Southern Plan, concerning which, he asserted, the Guatemalan government has not received initial notification.

Arana reiterated that he had no official knowledge of the Southern Plan and did not expect any notification, since “this involves internal decisions of the Mexican government.” As for the report that military personnel might be involved in the immigration identity checks, “We do not see this as a threat,” he stated.

Alejandro González Navarro, the attaché for immigration at the Mexican Embassy in Guatemala City, told Proceso that the recently concluded program of deportations is not part of the Southern Plan, but rather a temporary operation. He defined it as a “pilot test” and specified that what marked the difference this year was the fact that precise information on the nationalities of those deported was handed over to the Guatemalan authorities, which facilitated the deportation from Guatemala of citizens of other countries in Central America and elsewhere in the world.

What is certain is that the anti-immigration operation was conducted discreetly and that the massive deportations from Mexico, as well as the dispatch of dozens of buses transporting the deportees out of Guatemala, went almost unnoticed.

Ricardo Gatica, the spokesman for Guatemala’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, explained that the details of the Southern Plan were made known on May 11 during the visit to Guatemala of a delegation of Mexican officials headed by the assistant secretary for population and immigration affairs, Javier Moctezuma, and the Guatemalan minister of the interior, Byron Barrientos. At this meeting, the officials announced that they would implement joint policies aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigration coming from Central America and heading for the United States. According to the data provided by Moctezuma, each year 100,000 Guatemalans try to cross the border between Mexico and the United States; fewer than 1 percent succeed. In the year 2000, he reported, 50 died in the attempt.

When asked by Proceso, González Navarro clarified that in 2000, Mexico had expelled from its southern border 152,967 illegal aliens. Most of them, more than 70,848, were Guatemalans, 40,892 were Hondurans, 33,960 came from El Salvador, 3,340 from Ecuador, and 1,836 from Nicaragua. The remaining aliens were citizens of other countries, mainly China and India. The immigration from Asian countries, which involves more organized immigrant trafficking rings, has appeared in the last 10 years, the Mexican official explained. He estimated that in general terms the number of deportations is increasing by 30 percent each year.

During his visit to Guatemala as Mexico’s president-elect on Sept. 11, 2000, Vicente Fox offered to set up mechanisms to stop abuses by Mexican authorities against Central American immigrants. But as the director of the Immigrant Support Center, Mauro Verzeletti, pointed out, militarizing the anti-immigration effort in Mexico may result in a major increase in violations of the human rights of immigrants.

“We see inconsistency between [Fox’s] words and actual practice; if they keep on involving the army in the immigrant identity checks, there will be no improvement,” Verzeletti said. He said that he had received testimony from some undocumented immigrants indicating that Mexican military personnel are already present in the anti-immigration operations along the southern border. He reported that according to information received by the House for Immigrants, abuses against undocumented Central American immigrants are on the increase. “With such strict measures in place, the immigrants seek out the most dangerous roads, placing their lives in jeopardy,” he said. “They cross over in more remote areas in the north, near Petén, where there are a lot of mountains and jungle, and many immigrants lose their lives along this route, because they cannot find water or means to survive.”

Verzeletti explained that the Immigrant Support Center in Guatemala City alone takes care of an average of 500 people a month who were deported or abandoned by the coyotes (immigrant traffickers) and do not have the resources to return to their country of origin. “The abuses they most often report are swindles, followed by rapes, assaults, robberies, and poor conditions in the detention centers, where they may be kept without food, water, or an appropriate place to sleep.”

This morning’s newspaper headline provides hope for the immigrants who want to cross the border: “Guatemala Publishes Guide for Illegal Aliens Entering Mexico.” The story explains that a guide published by the government of Guatemala provides advice for individuals going across the southern border of Mexico. "Crossing the border can be very risky, especially if you cross alone and at night," the guide says. "Heavy clothing grows heavier when wet and this makes it difficult to swim or float. . . . If you get lost, use power lines, train tracks or dirt roads as guides."

Furthermore: "By reading this guide," says Guatemala President Oscar Berger in the introduction, "you can also find out about basic legal issues concerning your stay in Mexico without the appropriate immigration documentation."

Guatemala printed 1.5 million copies of the guide, which instructs its citizens on the do’s and don’ts of entering and blending in to Mexico. "Do not throw stones or objects at the official or at the car, as this is considered a provocation of the officials. Your rights are: . . . To have water and food whenever you need it. . . . Not to state your migratory status when detained."

I couldn’t believe what I was reading. How arrogant of the Guatemalan government to blatantly thumb its nose at the national sovereignty of Mexico. This was compelling reading and my eyes quickly returned to the text

"Avoid calling attention to yourself, at least while you arrange your stay or documents for living in Mexico. Avoid loud parties. Avoid domestic violence. In Mexico, as in Guatemala, its is a crime."

What followed were the “justifications” for the invasion.

“We just need guest Guatemalan workers to do the jobs that Mexicans won’t do. We’ll introduce guest worker legislation in the Mexican federal legislative body.”

This sounds all too familiar.

“Anyone who opposes an influx of undocumented Guatemalan workers into Mexico is nothing more than a racist.”

This, too, has a familiar ring to it.

“Undocumented Guatemalan immigrants are just trying to help their families. We’ll make it easy for them to wire billions of pesos back home to their loved ones. They are greatly boosting the economy of Mexico.”

Yes, this line of reasoning has been tried here, too.

“To make it easy for the visiting Guatemalans to get the necessary IDs and documentation, Mexico must provide driver’s licenses for Guatemalan undocumented workers.”

Isn’t this a twist on what we hear up here north of the border?

“Guatemalan babies born in Mexico are to be recognized as Mexican citizens. Mexico must also provide free college tuition for the children of Guatemalan undocumented workers. Guatemalan students should be first in line at Mexican colleges.”

Mexico should not erect any walls on the southern border. President Berger will not tolerate it: "No country that is proud of itself should build walls ... it doesn't make any sense. We are convinced that walls don't work." This would seem to conflict with Guatemala’s official policy of sealing off its own southern border to Central America.

Guatemalan immigrants living in Mexico rallied in Chiapas yesterday and declared, “We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us!”

Previously, the Guatemalans for Open Borders (GOB) said that Southern Mexico is indeed a “Guatemalan territory.” They consider Southern Mexico “Guatamala Republica del Norte” – the Guatemalan Republic of the North.

Mexicans are growing increasingly distraught over the Guatemalan invasion and say their lives and livelihood have been disrupted by the unchecked invasion from the south. The “Sons of Santa Ana” group has arisen in order to peacefully monitor the southern border and help border patrol officials monitor Guatemalan intrusions. President Berger has denounced the group as “vigilantes” and filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court. Furthermore, Guatemalan gangs threatened to go up to the border and teach a lesson to the Sons of Santa Ana.

Maria del Lupe Rodriguez, 87, still lives in the simple adobe home she was born in near the Chiapas-Guatemalan border. For most of her life, she enjoyed an active lifestyle with family and friends on her ranch and in her local community. But now, she must be indoors with her doors and windows barred and locked prior to sunset to ensure her safety from Guatemalans migrating northward, many of them criminals. She is living out her life in a veritable maximum security prison.

Many of the Guatemalan invaders are drug smugglers in the well-armed cocaine cartel. These dangerous drugs are getting into the hands of younger and younger Mexican children, virtually poisoning lives, school and communities.

Carjackings and home invasions are up in Mexico, and police authorities blame the rise in violent crime on illegal immigration.

Two more hospitals in Chiapas have closed this year due to the tidal wave of sick and dying illegals.

More and more cities in southern and central Mexico are opening day labor centers to help Guatemalan undocumented workers find work.

For the first time, Mexican lawmakers have begun to question the national policy of confirming citizenship on the children and families of illegals. Citizens are calling for more stringent border controls. Those calls have gone unheeded by a complicit government.

Mexico’s federal government is threatening to withhold funding from cities refusing to cooperate with the sanctuary program. The violent Mara Salvatrucha and La Mara gangs, from Central America, have completely taken over three small towns and two Indian villages in Chiapas, but due to the sanctuary law, the government has failed to provide protection to the local citizens. In many other Mexican communities, schools are being over-crowded by the children of undocumented workers and health services offices are being over-run.

Unemployment rates are up in most of Mexico’s southern states. Auto theft rates have risen through the roof, along with highway banditry. Mexican workers are being terminated in favor of cheap Guatemalan labor. Mexico’s welfare system has been stretched far beyond capacity, and many desperate citizens have turned to crime to support themselves and their families. Brush fires and pollution have scarred the countryside.

This is not the Mexico that Maria del Lupe Rodriguez and her generation grew up in. That Mexico is gone, never to return.

Fleeing Guatemala

Central Americans Risk Lives to Reach El Norte

By LISA VISCIDI

In late April, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger visited Washington, DC to meet with various U.S. officials, including President George Bush. The two heads of state agreed to expedite the negotiation of open borders for the trade of goods between the United States and Guatemala, but the frontiers will remain mostly closed to immigrants. Although Bush promised six-month work visas to Guatemalan immigrants already living in the United States, he refused to grant them Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which affords greater benefits.

Meanwhile, border officials are cracking down, not only on immigrants entering the U.S. but also at the Mexican-Guatemalan border, which they are dubbing a new frontier in the war against terror. Mexico's 'Plan Sur,' initiated in 2001, is a U.S.-backed attempt to use Mexico's southern border as a buffer zone against illegal immigration from Central America. Increased control has drawn attention to this very porous border and to the rising flow of immigration in this part of Latin America.

Increased patrols along the Mexican-Guatemalan frontier have also exposed the terrible dangers confronted by migrants attempting to make the trip to El Norte. Tight border control has led immigrants to traverse more hazardous routes, for example through Guatemala's northern Peten region, a thick and dangerous jungle.

Once they cross into Mexico, migrants face a long journey before reaching the United States. Some are mutilated or killed after falling from moving freight trains. Others are attacked and robbed by youth gangs, who last year killed at least 70 migrants in Mexico. Those who make it as far as northern Mexico's desert risk dehydration, exposure, hypothermia or abandonment by unscrupulous coyotes (immigrant traffickers).

If arrested, the undocumented often suffer mistreatment by Mexican border officials who bypass the proper judicial procedures, denying migrants their rights. In some cases, Mexican officials have assaulted their captives or held them indefinitely in detention centers with notoriously horrid conditions.

Struggle to Escape Poverty

Yet despite these obstacles, Central Americans continue to cross the border at ever-increasing rates. Last year Mexico deported 147,000 illegal immigrants, some 20 percent more than in 2002. Most hailed from just three Central American nations: Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Mexican immigration officials attribute this increase not to their success in capturing migrants, but to the escalating number of Central Americans willing to risk the journey. Strict visa requirements, including proof of profession, ownership documents, and bank statements showing lofty balances, prevent most Central Americans from entering the United States legally. Desperate economic circumstances, therefore, lead many to pursue the illegal route.

In Guatemala, where 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and 20 percent are unemployed or underemployed, opportunities for economic improvement are quite limited. In the United States, however, salaries are an average of ten times higher than those in Central American nations, and some researchers estimate that approximately 95 percent of immigrants who manage to enter the U.S. are successful in finding work. According to immigration specialist Meintje Westerbeek, "the U.S. offers a tremendous amount of opportunity compared to other countries where there isn't the same mobility and opportunity for work and personal success."

The ability to advance economically allows immigrants in the U.S. to support relatives in their home countries. Remesas familiares, or remittances, are often the families' only means of survival. Unlike international development aid, which requires lengthy bureaucratic steps to obtain and may be pocketed by corrupt government officials, remittances are a direct source of funds for poor families. In fact, remittances have become one of the most important sources of currency in Central America, and Latin American immigrants are expected to send a record billion this year to their families and friends back home. Westerbeek notes that these funds are "a direct inv! estment into the economies of these countries, and nations such as El Salvador end up with an economy that is heavily dependent on the dollars from Salvadorans living in the U.S."

Undocumented Immigrants Suffer Exploitation

Although the prospects for financial success in the United States initially seem abundant, many immigrants encounter unanticipated difficulties upon arrival. Lacking official immigration status, undocumented workers have no legal rights and thus no defense against exploitation in the workforce. "They are part of an underground economy that exploits them," asserts Westerbeek. "They are frequently paid low wages or they are not paid for all or some of the work they perform. They have no rights. They do not exist." In addition, undocumented immigrants cannot access the safety net of public services enjoyed by legal immigrants and naturalized citizens. They have no right to welfare, healthcare, or insurance to! protect them in case of medical or economic difficulties.

Adriana Hernandez_ whose husband and uncle paid a coyote nearly ,000 each to travel illegally to the United States_ did not hear news of her loved ones for over a month after they had left their home in Quetzaltanango, Guatemala. She later learned that her husband was in the U.S. for 3 months before he found work. Even now his temporary low-paying jobs do not allow him to send money home to his family. Her uncle, meanwhile, is not able to work at all since cutting his finger in a meat slicing factory, after which his employer fired him immediately without covering related medical expenses. The entire Hernandez family is now in dire economic straights as Adriana's parents mortgaged their house to send the! ir relatives across the border. "We thought it would be worth it to pay the coyote because we didn't realize the obstacles they would face," laments Adriana. "They thought it would be easy there."

In addition to the economic suffering, Adriana and her child endure the emotional pain of separation from husband and father. Yet she claims to understand his reasons for leaving. "He wanted his child to have everything," says Adriana, "to live well, to receive an education, unlike us. That's my husband's dream, to buy a small piece of land, build a house on it and raise his family there."

Many who oppose the U.S.' strict immigration policy argue that Central Americans have a right to follow dreams such as those of Adriana's husband. Human rights organizations are lobbying the United States Congress to pass legislation that would legalize the status of many undocumented immigrant workers. Whether or not the U.S. government chooses to ease restrictions on immigration remains to be seen. One thing seems certain, however: despite the obstacles, Central Americans will continue to enter the United States in the hopes of escaping poverty in their native countries.

Lisa Viscidi is editor-in-chief of EntreMundos newspaper, based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. She can be reached at lviscidi@yahoo.com.

The State Department says that the Mexican government, angry that a thousand American volunteers will begin an Arizona border vigil next month, consistently violates the rights of illegal immigrants crossing its southern border into Mexico.

Many of the illegals in Mexico, who emigrate from Central and South America, complain of "double dangers" of extortion by Mexican authorities and robbery and killings by organized gangs.

The State Department's Human Rights Practices report, released only last month, cites abuses at all levels of the Mexican government, and charges that Mexican police and immigration officials not only violate the rights of illegal immigrants, but traffic in illegal aliens

Although Mexico demands that its citizens' rights be protected when they illegally enter the United States, immigrants who cross illegally into Mexico "are often ripped off six ways until sundown," says George Grayson, a professor at the College of William & Mary and a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

Mr. Grayson, who wrote a report for the center on Mexico's abuses of aliens, says "very little" is being done by Mexico to protect the welfare of the Central Americans and the others who cross into Mexico.

Mexican President Vicente Fox said last week that his government will sue in U.S. or international courts if the volunteers -- part of the Minuteman Project, which is designed to protest the Bush administration's lax immigration policies -- break the law.

"We totally reject the idea of these migrant-hunting groups," Mr. Fox said prior to yesterday's Baylor University summit in Waco, Texas, with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, at which the countries agreed to improve security and unify business practices.

"We will use the law, international law and even U.S. law to make sure that these types of groups ... will not have any opportunity to progress," Mr. Fox said last week.

In response, Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, urged Mr. Fox to respect America's right to defend its borders and "demonstrate perhaps a little less disdain for the rule of law north of the border."

Mr. Kyl said Mr. Fox's "pre-emptive threats" to file lawsuits on behalf of those crossing the border unlawfully "is hardly helpful, since it presumes that illegal aliens have more of a right to break American law than American citizens have to peacefully assist authorities in enforcing it."

Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, says Mexico had "raised the bar on chutzpah" by criticizing efforts by the Minuteman volunteers to protest immigration enforcement by the U.S. government.

"Since when are 'Neighborhood Watch' citizens 'vigilantes'?" Mr. Tancredo asked. "President Fox thinks we should tear down the fence that keeps illegal aliens out? Then why doesn't he put up a welcome sign on his southern border with Guatemala instead of using his military to keep poor Guatemalans out? Such hypocrisy about borders defies historic parallel."

In a press conference yesterday in Waco, President Bush described the Arizona volunteers as "vigilantes."

Alfonso Nieto, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said the presence of "vigilantes" on the border "will only exacerbate a climate of unease and provide sources of confrontation that will not contribute to solving the flow of economic migrants demanded by the U.S. government."

Mr. Nieto would not comment on suspected immigrant abuses in his own country, but Mexican government officials earlier said Mr. Fox created a national program on human rights to address problems.

James Gilchrist, one of the Minutemen organizers, who expects to send 30 private planes aloft to patrol the border, said the volunteers will not confront the aliens, but report them to the Border Patrol. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona said it will post legal observers to monitor the Minutemen.

Mr. Grayson says most of Mexico's abuses occur along its 600-mile border with Guatemala, and that three groups -- criminals, local police and immigration agents -- account for most of the mistreatment. He said Mexico's efforts to promote professionalization among its own border officials "thus far have achieved limited success."

About 200,000 immigrants were detained last year on Mexico's southern border, most of them from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Most of them were trying to reach the United States.

Mr. Bush, to criticism by both Democrats and Republicans, proposes to hire 210 new Border Patrol agents instead of the 2,000 set out in the intelligence-overhaul bill that he signed in December. The Senate voted last week to provide additional funding for the 2,000 agents in next year's budget, signaling a willingness to challenge Mr. Bush on immigration security.

Entrance and Exit Regulations-

The enchantment of Mexico is but a bridge away from much of Texas. Visitors find Mexican shops and markets colorful and fascinating, filled with a variety of gift, handicraft and art items at attractive prices. The people of Mexico are gracious and friendly.

Border crossing is easy and simple; there are no fees other than for auto insurance or special permits such as hunting and fishing licenses, bridge tolls, and U.S. Customs duties as necessary.

General Travel Information-

U.S, citizens must carry proof of citizenship when crossing into Mexico. Officials of the National Immigration Institute, posted at border entry points, require a passport, birth certificate, voter registration card, or any other document that proves citizenship. This is a change from the past. The law applies to all border cities, and is an attempt to implement uniform immigration laws on both northern and southern borders.

On returning to Texas from Mexico, a stop at U.S. customs is required, stating nationality and declaring Mexican purchases.

A Mexican tourist card is required for visiting Mexico beyond the border cities, or for stays longer than 72 hours. The free tourist cards are available from Mexican immigration authorities at the border and also at Mexican consulates and Mexican government tourist offices in the US. A birth certificate or other proof of US citizenship, such as voter registration, military ID showing place of birth, or passport is required to obtain the tourist card.

Canadian citizens who visit Mexico from Texas should have a passport or birth certificate. Other foreign nationals should have a passport and appropriate visas both for entering Mexico and returning to the U.S.

Driving Into Mexico

An automobile permit is required when driving into the interior of Mexico beyond the border cities. The permits, good for up to 180 days, may be obtained at the border after the tourist card has been stamped by Mexican immigration officials. A fee must be paid by the vehicle’s owner using a major credit card on whose face the word "bank" appears. Vehicle Title of Ownership is required. If the vehicle owner is not in the party, written permission from the owner for a specific time period must be presented. The individual to whom the car permit is issued will have his tourist card stamped to that effect, and it is mandatory that he accompany the auto and surrender the permit upon leaving Mexico.

Auto tourists must stop at Mexico’s Federal Inspection Points located on all principal highways to the interior, usually about 12 miles from the border. There the auto permit must be presented for inspection, and baggage inspection may also be required.

Mexican Auto Insurance

According to Mexican civil statutes, it is unlawful to operate a motor vehicle in Mexico without auto mobile insurance issued by a Mexican insurance company. In the past, most U.S. insurance companies offered provisions to adjust claims arising from auto accidents in the immediate border cities of Mexico (Endorsement 74). Although that endorsement may still be carried on U.S. policies, Mexican authorities no longer recognize it, and their law is explicit: Drivers must be covered by Mexican insurance. Auto accidents are considered criminal offenses in Mexico, and regardless of fault, involved vehicles are usually impounded.

Short-term Mexican auto insurance is available from numerous agencies and travel services on the Texas side of the border.

Returning to the U.S.

Each U.S. citizen may bring back Mexican purchases valued to 0 retail, duty free every 30 days. Federal duty fees will be assessed on the value of articles above the 0 exemption. NOTE: many items of Mexican manufacture, such as handicrafts and jewelry, may qualify for exemption above the 0 limit; ask for GSP brochure on special exemptions from U.S. Customs and shop till you drop!

Federal Law permits only one liter of duty-free alcoholic beverages to be brought back by each adult U.S. citizen each 30 days. Alcoholic beverages in excess of the limit are subject to duty and internal revenue tax. In addition, Texas law requires a state tax on all alcoholic beverages brought in from Mexico.

Foreign-Made Articles Taken Into Mexico

Foreign-made articles such as cameras, watches and jewelry previously acquired in the U.S. or elsewhere, should be registered with U.S. Customs before entering Mexico. Without proof of prior possession, such articles may be dutiable when brought back into the U.S.

Mexican Currency

Visitors to Mexico border cities will seldom need Mexican currency. U.S. dollars are readily accepted at the current exchange rate. Mexican banks, large hotels / motels and tourist service facilities provide currency exchange if needed.

Pets

Both Mexico and the U.S. enforce rather stringent regulations about animal pets, and many visitors to Mexico find it more convenient to leave pets at veterinary boarding facilities in Texas border cities. For pets taken into Mexico and returned to the U.S., owners must present a rabies vaccination certificate dated not less than one month nor more than 12 months previously, and International health Certificate (form 77-043) signed by a veterinarian stamped (fee ) at the border or at the Mexican consulate where tourist cards are obtained.

Prohibited Imports

Upon entering the U.S. from Mexico, certain articles are either prohibited or subject to various quarantines, limitations or special permit requirements. Those articles include all narcotics or drugs, weapons, certain trademarked articles, most fruits, vegetables, plants, animals, birds and meats, and products made from the hides, shells, feathers, or teeth of endangered species. If you are unsure of regulations governing the import of a wildlife product, check with local authorities of U.S. Embassy before making a purchase. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Law Enforcement, P.O. box 28006, 23rd St., NW, Washington, DC 20037, can provide information.

Hunting and Fishing In Mexico

Mexican authorities must be contacted for current regulations, hunting and fishing licenses, and procedures for taking in firearms and ammunition. Any game legally killed in Mexico may be brought back into Texas, but it must be accompanied by a statement, issued by U.S. Customs at the border, that the dead animal originated in Mexico. There are no restrictions on bringing fish caught in Mexico into Texas, but they must be declared at the Texas port of entry.

NOTE

The above information is only a general summary of primary travel regulations between the U.S, and Mexico. For further details or significant changes that may have been effected since this printing, contact the immigration and customs authorities of the appropriate country

Special Interest Groups consider U.S. Immigration laws racist,inhumane and unjust. A possible answer to the problem would be abolishing all U.S. Statutes and adopting "word for word " Mexico's standards and law per their govenment constitution. How could any group in the United States including LULAC or ACLU be offended?

Contrary to popular belief, Mexico has very strict immigration laws which are enforced by every police agency in the country. The Bureau of Immigration can call upon any law enforcement officer to assist in their mission. Citizens from the United States traveling in Mexico without proper documents are subject to arrest as illegal aliens.

Mexican law requires proof of citizenship, passport, photo I.D. destination and purpose of travel for any foreign national entering the Country. The foreign national cannot work and must have monetary funds to support their stay in Mexico.

Non-Immigrants, FM-3s must provide proof of identity as well as a financial statement, proof of income. This income must be 250 times the minimum wages paid in Mexico City.

To fully immigrate as an FM-2, proof of income required is 400 times the minimum wages paid in Mexico City.For some reason, the elite ruling class of Mexico does not appreciate immigrants that are not self-supporting or illegal aliens competing for jobs. Amnesty for law breakers is not an option.

Voting regulations in Mexico are very strict to prevent voter fraud in elections. What an amazing concept.Proof of identity with a government issued photo voter ID is required to vote within a polling district. A fingerprint is also taken. Elections are serious business in Mexico compared to the United States of America.

Mexico controls their Borders with military troops. The fact that many military or police units are corrupt and 65 percent of cocaine and marijuana seized in the U.S. comes from Mexico is not on the political "radar" in Washington D.C.

In 1989, the U.S. Government had armed squads of U.S. Marines as well as Army National Guard air support wings assisting in narcotics interdictions along the Arizona Border. It was a very effective operation, perhaps too effective. Politicians in Mexico were "outraged" that U.S. Marines were deployed along high intensity smuggling areas.

Very specific rules of engagement were in place for our Marines. If fired upon by armed smugglers, they returned fire ending the situation. Mexican military incursions on U.S. soil was not a factor and for a brief period of time, the U.S. Border Patrol regained control along the Line