Mexican Priest Alejandro Solalinde on Migrants' Perilous Journey to US Democracy NOW!
go to original May 23, 2013

As the US Congress continues to shape an immigration reform bill that could provide a path to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented residents, Democracy Now! looks at the overlooked plight of migrants from Central and South America who travel through Mexico en route to the United States.

Many of them are fleeing violence and poverty in their countries only to face robberies, beatings and kidnappings by smugglers who hold them for ransom. Human rights groups estimate at least 20,000 Central and South Americans were kidnapped in Mexico last year — that is more than 50 a day. Many do not survive and hundreds have been found in mass graves throughout the country.

We’re joined by two guests: Father Alejandro Solalinde, a Mexican Catholic priest who runs a shelter for migrants in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca and is now on a "Caravan of Hope" across the United States to draw attention to the plight of Central American migrants; and Marco Castillo, an organizer with Migrant Families Popular Assembly and the Acción Migrante campaign, which is calling for human rights to be the focus of migration policy changes.

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