Mexico Worries About Its Own Southern Border

While Mexican authorities have chided the US for its policy of increasing militarization of the US-Mexico border, Mexico’s President Vicente Fox also makes plans for more patrols of the southern border in his own country. Indeed, Mexican regulations on immigration are far tougher than those in the US. Detentions and deportations have risen by about 74 percent in the past four years, according to Mexican authorities, as increasing numbers of Guatemalan undocumented workers immigrate to the nation to take jobs left by northbound Mexicans. Many illegal workers from Central America and as far away as China and Africa enter Mexico by bribing law-enforcement officials along the way as well as the angry farmers and others who demand payments. Like the US, Mexico is torn about the immigrants – with some employers worrying about losing the new immigrants to the US. Politicians’ attempts to respond to electorates so divided over issues such as illegal immigration and enforcement can result in statements and policies of hypocrisy. – YaleGlobal