Mexico Steps Up Migration Enforcement Along Southern Border, But Is It Working? David Agren - USA Today
go to original March 21, 2015

The plight of Central American migrants on their way to the United States, making the dangerous journey through Mexico on top of freight trains. In Mexico, they often fall victim to hunger, violence, extorsion, kidnapping and even death, in what has become a major human rights issue. The "Casa del Migrante" provides much needed help to the migrants. (TeleSUR English)

For years, Central American migrants have taken risky paths to reach the USA through Mexico. Now, the government has stepped up security on its long-neglected southern border, the only land route to reach the U.S. from Central America. Mexico has increased patrols in southern states and denied more migrants access to a train so dangerous it was dubbed La Bestia (The Beast) for the way it maimed victims who fell onto the tracks.

The move comes in the wake of an international outcry over the humanitarian crisis created by tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children, who crossed Mexico last year to reach the USA.

The Mexican government says the crackdown is driving down migration through Mexico, but critics, many of them migrant shelter operators, charge the actions merely make migration less visible, not necessarily safer.

...The situation in southern Mexico raises questions whether the increased enforcement is truly ebbing the flow. Shelter operators there say migrants are still arriving in similar numbers to last year, but now more are falling victim to criminals because they're seeking ways to evade authorities.

Read the whole story at USA Today

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