Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Raid Highlights Mexico's Treatment of Migrant Workers

Migrants looking for better economic conditions have gone to...Mexico. They're from Central America and at present, there are about 500,000 of them. But, an Associated Press article says:
...though Mexico demands humane treatment for its citizens who migrate to the U.S., regardless of their legal status, Mexico provides few protections for migrants on its own soil. The issue simply isn't on the country's political agenda...

...The level of brutality Central American migrants face in Mexico was apparent Monday, when police conducting a raid for undocumented migrants near a rail yard outside Mexico City shot to death a local man, apparently because his dark skin and work clothes made officers think he was a migrant.

Virginia Sanchez, who lives near the railroad tracks that carry Central Americans north to the U.S. border, said such shootings in Tultitlan are common.

''At night, you hear the gunshots, and it's the judiciales (state police) chasing the migrants,'' she said. ''It's not fair to kill these people. It's not fair in the United States and it's not fair here.''

No comments: