Tracking the United States Influence on Mexico's Southern Border Plan Lorne Matalon - Fronteras Desk
go to original July 11, 2016

The words read, "Christ Lives." Migrants and goods such as oil and foodstuffs are transported illegally on a raft below this bridge, an official port of entry linking Mexico and Guatemala. (Lorne Matalon)

In 2012, a senior official in the Department of Homeland Security declared that Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala was now essentially the southern border of the United States.

That was two years before the 2014 child migrant crisis that saw tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America crossing or attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico. Since then, the U.S. has in essence expanded its own border enforcement efforts by assisting Mexico on its southern border. In 2015, fewer Central Americans reached the U.S., though the numbers undulate from season to season.

This border is porous even after the U.S. pressured Mexico to start Programa Frontera Sur, its southern border plan, in July 2014. The plan was crafted after President Obama said the unprecedented numbers of unaccompanied children and families arriving at the U.S. border in the preceding months constituted an "urgent humanitarian situation." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees later warned of a "looming humanitarian crisis in the Americas."

Starting July 2014, Mexico sent at least 300 immigration agents from other parts of Mexico to the South, raided trains and migrant hostels and set up mobile checkpoints. Washington is supporting this campaign with training, technology and intelligence. For migrants, the consequences have been profound.

Read the rest at Fronteras Desk

Related: Photo Gallery on the Migrant Situation on Mexico's Southern Border (Fronteras Desk)

Related: Migration Is a Business on Mexico's Southern Border (Market Place)

Related: Lawmakers Call for US to be a Refuge for Central Americans (Boston Globe)

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