April 09, 2008
Memo From Mexico,
By
Allan Wall
Mexican Police, Marines Beating Up (Central American) Illegal Aliens In Mexico
¡No me peguen, duele!!¡No
golpeen!
"Don’t hit me! It hurts! Don’t
beat me!"
That’s what the illegal aliens
shouted—in vain—as they were detained and beaten by
immigration (and military) authorities.
You probably didn’t hear much
about this on the U.S. Mainstream Media, because it
happened in Mexico, and it was Central American illegal
aliens
being beaten up by Mexican authorities.
Remember the infamous
Riverside County Beating in 1996, which was widely
publicized? That’s when two sheriff’s deputies in
Riverside Country, California beat a couple of Mexican
illegal aliens
after a high speed pursuit.
But that incident was minor
compared to what happened on March 31st, in
the southern state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. (For a
map, see
here ).
A freight train was passing
through Oaxaca, and on board were 600 Central American
illegal aliens (from countries, remember, that are
poorer than Mexico). At Las Palmas, in the municipio
(somewhat equivalent to a county) of Niltepec, the train
was stopped by a 50-man (though one witness says
100-man) detail composed of INM (Mexican equivalent of
ICE) agents and
Mexican marines. (In Mexico,
military units can and do
enforce immigration law). The agents and Marines
were armed and some brandished clubs.
Chaos ensued. Hundreds of illegal
aliens escaped, but those who couldn’t get away were,
according to witnesses, detained and beaten with sticks.
Agents and Marines entered local houses seeking
escapees, and there’s even a report of a rape in an
abandoned building. [Denuncian
paliza contra migrantes,
Maria de Jesus Peters, El Universal, April 5th,
2008]
"It
was a moment of terror that we lived. I feared for my
life" said Eva Serrato, a Honduran who walked 3 days to
get away.
¡No
me peguen, duele!!¡No golpeen! some of those being
beaten cried, but to no avail.
[Los
Roban en Juchitán Tras Recibir Paliza
By
Alberto López Morales, El Universal, April
8th, 2008]
"They
beat us like they club the seals in Canada",
Rosa Elba, illegal alien. She says her brother was
thrown to the ground and beaten until blood came out of
his mouth and nose—"why do Migracion and the
police treat us worse than animals? ["Migrantes:
"Nos Golpean Como a Focas en Canadá" , By
Alberto Lopez, El Universal, April 7th, 2008]
There was also a photographer on
board the train, and when he was spotted by a
female agent with a radio, she ordered him tossed
overboard and his camera confiscated. But he was able to
escape with his camera, and therefore, photographs of
the incident were taken.
On April 5, these photographs
appeared on the front page of
El Universal,
Mexico’s paper of record (you can see them
here
The headline read "Apalean a
Centroamericanos" which
literally means "They Beat up Central Americans
with Sticks".
(The topic of mistreatment of
Central American illegal aliens in Mexico is not
covered up by the Mexican media, which runs numerous
reports on the subject.)
Unsurprisingly, the El
Universal article and photos were also reprinted in
a Honduran newspaper.
As for whether anything will be
done about it, that’s another question entirely. As of
April 7, the INM and the Mexican Navy made
a joint statement reporting that they hadn’t
received any complaints lodged against any of their
personnel, but they would investigate. One problem is
the Central American victims are afraid to testify,
fearing deportation from Mexico!
Far from being an isolated
incident, there are numerous reports of mistreatment of
Central American illegal aliens in Mexico. See my
earlier article
"More Hypocrisy: How Mexico Handles Its Own Illegal
Immigration"
We must distinguish between the
sort of mistreatment and abuse displayed in Oaxaca, and
simply enforcing immigration law. Open borders promoters
try to confuse the two. There’s no reason illegal aliens
can’t be humanely detained and deported.
In many respects we can learn from
Mexican immigration policy. To provide one example,
although the
Mexican government is horrified at the prospect of
U.S. cops enforcing immigration law, in Mexico the
police are not only allowed to enforce immigration—
they
are required to do so.
(See
my previous article on that topic).
And while we must condemn the
sorts of abuses which took place in Oaxaca, I would
certainly support Mexico’s right to control its own
borders and manage its own immigration policy, and to
detain and deport illegal aliens, as it does.
But what’s tiring are the constant
lectures from Mexicans on how badly Mexican illegal
aliens are treated in the U.S., in the light of the
Oaxaca incident (and many others).
Just as in the U.S., illegal
aliens in Mexico frequently perish in accidents, such as
the one in which
8 illegal alien Guatemalans died on April 5,
when their vehicle fell into a Mexican lake.
There’s lots of bad, bad stuff
that happens to illegals in Mexico. For example, a
recent NGO report arriving to the Mexican Congress
asserts that 7 out of 10 of all young migrant women from
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua (all
countries poorer than Mexico) are attacked in Mexico
by customs agents, police (federal, state and local) and
military personnel, and 60% are raped. Some of these
young women are actually sold for $200 for
slave labor or
sexual exploitation (or both).
[Mujeres
migrants: 7 de cada 10, victimas de aduanales y policías,
By Gustavo Gonzalez, Cimac Noticias, March 4th,
2008]
It’s a humanitarian disaster,
stretching across our entire continent ! Thanks in part
to American employers who don’t want to pay American
wages, Hispanic activists who seek more political power,
and various and sundry other open borders promoters,
Central Americans are
tempted to risk their lives by crossing Mexico, a
dangerous country for them, in order to get to the
United States.
So besides all the problems
illegal immigration causes in our own country, it
invites millions of foreigners to put their lives
and safety at risk as well. Why don’t we end it, and cut
off the magnet that tempts them to do so?
American citizen Allan Wall (
email
him) resides in Mexico, with a
legal permit issued him by the Mexican government. Allan
recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the
Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are
archived
here; his FRONTPAGEMAG.COM
articles are archived
here his "Dispatches from
Iraq" are archived
here his website is
here.
