{Excerpted}
Abuses Suffered by Illegal Aliens at Mexico’s Southern Border
Aliens, their embassies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), international agencies, and Mexico’s migrant-protection Beta Groups find that most abuses suffered by immigrants entering Mexico take place along its 600-mile border with Guatemala, with far fewer crimes committed on the frontier between Quintana Roo and Belize. That the army, which is more professional than most Mexican police forces, makes most of the arrests in Quintana Roo (where it is deployed to combat drug trafficking) may explain the lower incidence of wrongdoing in this state. Still, the region is awash in newcomers. For example, tens of thousands of illegal aliens perform construction work in the Tulum-Cancun “Maya Rivera” in Quintana Roo.7
A study conducted in the Tenosique area of Chiapas found that three groups  criminals (47.5 percent), the local Public Security police (15.2 percent), and migration agents (15.2 percent)  accounted for most of the mistreatment of immigrants arriving in Mexico from Central America8 mainly along the new El Naranjo-El Ceibo-Tenosique highway. Further south in Chiapas  in the Tapachula, Puerto Madero, Ciudad Hidalgo, and Soconusco region  charges have frequently been leveled against plantation, or finca, owners for exploiting Guatemalan guestworkers, known as jornaleros or braceros, who work on their vast ranches.
…Chiapan finca owners are frequently in the news, notably in the Tapachula and Guatemala City press, for their Simon Legree-like care of workers. The wealthy growers prefer Guatemalans over Mexicans to work on their plantations, where they raise mangos, bananas, coffee, and dozens of other crops in the fertile, steamy ambiance of southern Chiapas. Echoing U.S. employers’ claims about Americans, these finqueros insist that Mexicans will not do the hard work of planting, cultivating, and picking. The ranchers have two options when hiring Guatemalan jornaleros. They may take advantage of a program operated jointly by the Mexican and Guatemalan labor ministries13 or they can contract workers directly from makeshift employment offices in Tecún Umán, a rapidly-growing town called “little Tijuana” because of its ubiquitous prostitution and unbridled lawlessness.14 The finca owners accomplish the overwhelming number of their 150,000 annual hires through private channels. A typical contract will specify the employment of 10 to 20 “temporary migrant workers” to harvest coffee or mangos for 30 days at $3.85 (35 pesos) per day.15
This approach allows them to pay rates at or below the $4.21 (38.30 pesos) official minimum wage. Although the daily compensation may sometimes be slightly higher, the amounts specified on the three contracts in the author’s possession vary between $3.52 (32 pesos) and $3.85 (35 pesos)  with ranchers seldom if ever paying the workers’ social security, year-end bonuses (aguinaldos), and other benefits. Even worse, some finca owners deduct from the paltry wages the cost of the two rudimentary daily meals and rustic housing furnished to most workers. The horrendous poverty and unemployment in Guatemala, especially in the departments of San Marcos, Huehuetenango, and Retalhuleu that lie cheek by jowl with Chiapas, ensures an abundance of men ready to accept these deplorable conditions.
Guatemalan Vice Consul Erick Rodolfo Herrera Mata has urged Mexican authorities to investigate other abuses  specifically, charges that some of his countrymen were hired to work on the nonexistent “El Chaparral” ranch. Instead, they were trucked to banana plantations where, despite dawn-to-dusk labor, they were never paid the promised $3.96 (36 pesos) per day. Not only did they fail to receive compensation for three months, but the growers allegedly stopped feeding some braceros.16 Bribes, intimidation, and political pressure ensure that Labor Ministry and Social Security inspectors steer clear of these farms, lest they “make waves,” in the words of one former high-level Mexican policy maker who asked to remain anonymous. ..more
from: Center for Immigration Studies
Also this excerpt from The Economist–
Last year Mexico deported 147,000 illegal immigrants in all, some 20% more than in 2002. Over 90% came from just three Central American countries (Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua), almost all of whom are likely to have entered through the southern border. In Tapachula, immigration officials concede that the higher figure represents not their success in stemming the flow, but evidence that more are making the journey…more
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The article from CIS goes on to say that since President Fox took office, he has made some attempts to curb the hypocrisy of this issue. Unfortunately his efforts have been hampered by the widespread corruption within his own government. This is still no excuse!!
Why is he STILL pushing his own people here in the United States illegally while at the same time deports thousands of “illegals” from his own country?
Even a bigger question is–why has most US media and our politicians barely mentioned this issue? I suspect this is due to the fact that we are in a “the ‘victim’ is always justified” culture.
I love the people of Mexico, but I hate their politics.
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