Bradenton Herald Logo

New reason for Mexican immigration to U.S.: Drug violence | Bradenton Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services

    • News
    • Crime
    • Local
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Lakewood Ranch Herald
    • Lottery
    • Nation & World
    • Politics
    • Special Projects
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Breaking News Blog
    • I Am Woman Hear Me Write
    • All Sports
    • Rays
    • Spring Training
    • Bucs
    • High Schools
    • FSU
    • UF
    • USF
    • Outdoors
    • Tennis
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • David Wilson
    • Alan Dell
    • Jason Dill
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • All Business
    • Real Estate News
    • Retail
    • Small Business
    • Port Manatee
    • All Living
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cooking With Local Chefs
    • Gulf Coast Cooking
    • Cravings by Janelle O'Dea
    • All Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Fairs & Festivals
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Restaurants
    • Local Events
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Marty Clear
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters
    • Opinion Columns
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Submit a Letter
  • Obituaries

  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

  • About Us

Latest News

New reason for Mexican immigration to U.S.: Drug violence

Julie Wolf - McClatchy Newspapers

    ORDER REPRINT →

May 20, 2009 11:20 AM

MEXICO CITY — Mexican immigration to the United States has been almost entirely an economic issue for the past few decades. Politicians have fine-tuned their positions around what to do about illegal immigrants who supposedly take jobs from Americans.

Now, however, as violence on the border continues to increase, a new kind of immigrant to the United States is appearing: people seeking asylum to escape the drug-fueled brutality in Mexico.

More than 5,400 people were killed in the violence last year, and more than 8,000 in the two years since President Felipe Calderon sent thousands of troops into the drug war zones.

"Some families living on the frontier are leaving, and the easiest way to live in the U.S. for them is by asking for the status of refugee," said Damaso Morales, a professor of international studies at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, the largest university in Latin America. "It's a way to get into the U.S. in a legal way."

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Bradenton Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Already, there have been two celebrated cases of asylum-seekers: a journalist who fled the northern state of Chihuahua after drug cartels threatened him, and the mayor of Ciudad Juarez, a major border city opposite El Paso, Texas, who pulled out when drug traffickers threatened his family. Though both succeeded in getting into the U.S., their tactic is still relatively untested in U.S. courts.

Ana Maria Salazar, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense during the Clinton administration who's now a political commentator in Mexico City, said that people were moving away from the country's crime-plagued border towns, if not yet to the U.S.

"Many people fearing for their lives in border towns are moving to big cities within Mexico," said Salazar, who has Mexican and American citizenship. "As descriptions of the violence continue to become public, there will definitely be talk about the refugee status" in the U.S., although she adds that the violence would have to be "very high."

The increase in violence, experts said, has replaced immigration as the major source of friction in U.S.-Mexican relations. In March, Mexicans ranging from Calderon to local editorial writers were outraged when a U.S. official suggested that the government had lost control of some parts of the country to the drug lords.

The incident wasn't smoothed over until Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama visited Mexico and acknowledged that the U.S. bore a share of responsibility for Mexico's drug wars, not only from the billions of dollars sent south to purchase illegal drugs but also because of the high-powered weapons that are purchased legally in U.S. border towns and sold to Mexican gangs.

The fear created by this border violence, Morales said, is "a real problem, as Mexicans are coming in to the U.S. claiming asylum. These people would rather be in jail in the U.S. waiting to see if Uncle Sam grants them mercy than be in Mexico, where drug traffickers are killing family members."

Though the number of people entering the United States may increase if the violence continues to escalate, the number of Mexican citizens emigrating to the U.S. has dropped almost 25 percent within the last five months, according to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Though it's hard to say why, the faltering U.S. economy most often is blamed.

"The economy here is really tied up in the economy of the U.S.," Morales said. "Things are very different and are changing in this economic crisis."

Francisco Gonzalez, an associate professor of Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said that officials on both sides of the border now worried more about the drug wars than about immigration.

"The country has become very violent," Gonzalez said, "and it is very easy to see that things there could get even worse."

(Wolf is a student at Penn State University. This story was reported from Mexico City for a class in international journalism.)

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

In latest Mexico prison break Narcos used police disguises, chopper

Afghan drug trade thrives with help, and neglect, of officials

From the trash of others, Mexican lives take root

Related stories from Bradenton Herald

latest-news

About these stories from Penn State

May 18, 2009 06:14 PM

latest-news

Jews in Mexico find it a place to thrive and serve

May 21, 2009 12:05 AM

latest-news

American retirees make a life in Mexico, cheaply

May 21, 2009 12:05 AM

latest-news

In macho culture, gays find acceptance in Mexico City district

May 21, 2009 12:05 AM

latest-news

Blend of music, dance, martial arts takes hold in Mexico

May 20, 2009 11:21 AM

latest-news

Mexican takes action after her son is kidnapped, killed

May 20, 2009 11:20 AM

  Comments  

Videos

Watch: Cortez Fishing Festival celebrates ‘changing tides’

Bodycam video shows police officers shoot, kill knife-wielding man

View More Video

Trending Stories

Bradenton man was shot dead by masked intruder. Victim was living with intruder’s relatives, cops say

February 16, 2019 12:26 PM

SRQ to add another destination this spring. Service to this city starts in March

February 15, 2019 08:35 AM

Man closed lid on their hot tub while wife was still in it, say police. She died.

February 15, 2019 12:29 PM

Man dies after falling 100 feet to the ground after I-4 motorcycle crash, FHP says

February 15, 2019 05:39 PM

Vegan parents starve 5-month-old by switching out doctor’s formula, Florida police say

February 15, 2019 09:28 AM

Read Next

Military planes carrying 180 tons of aid for Venezuelans fly from Miami to Colombia
Video media Created with Sketch.

World

Military planes carrying 180 tons of aid for Venezuelans fly from Miami to Colombia

By Nora Gámez Torres

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 16, 2019 08:00 AM

Military planes carrying humanitarian aid for Venezuelans landed in Cúcuta, Colombia, on Saturday from an air base in Homestead, FL. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department coordinated the shipment.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Bradenton Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LATEST NEWS

He won the 2003 Masters. Now he’s in contention in Lakewood Ranch Web.com Tour event

Latest News

He won the 2003 Masters. Now he’s in contention in Lakewood Ranch Web.com Tour event

February 16, 2019 05:34 PM
The tides might be changing, but it’s time for celebration at Cortez Fishing Festival

Local

The tides might be changing, but it’s time for celebration at Cortez Fishing Festival

February 16, 2019 04:59 PM
Bradenton man was shot dead by masked intruder. Victim was living with intruder’s relatives, cops say

Crime

Bradenton man was shot dead by masked intruder. Victim was living with intruder’s relatives, cops say

February 16, 2019 12:26 PM
This woman will become Manatee-Sarasota’s first female chief judge this summer

Local

This woman will become Manatee-Sarasota’s first female chief judge this summer

February 16, 2019 06:00 AM
Have you seen one of these 5 Manatee fugitives? If so, you could earn a cash reward

Crime

Have you seen one of these 5 Manatee fugitives? If so, you could earn a cash reward

February 16, 2019 08:45 AM
Author of homophobic slur among 8 ousted in new Broward sheriff’s ongoing purge

Florida

Author of homophobic slur among 8 ousted in new Broward sheriff’s ongoing purge

February 15, 2019 03:26 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Bradenton Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Place a Classified Ad
  • Advertise with Us
  • Special Sections
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story