Burning Atlanta

This isn't news, this has been going on for a while. Smugglers are only interested in risks and profits. So, whether it's people, drugs, guns, or used underwear they don't care as long as there's money to be made. This piece has some of the typical whining rhetoric dropped in.

Yawn

"You used to be able to walk across" the border, said Javier Corazon, 48, who says he lived in Tucson for decades before being deported two years ago. "Now you never know what's going to happen. They may leave you, beat you or worse." Got deported? Good.

This used to be a family business. The coyote and the migrant were from the same town; they were connected," said Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, chair of the department of transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o studies at Arizona State University. "Now, because of the so-called security needs of the border, what's been created is this structure of smuggling in the hands of really nasty people who only treat the migrant as a commodity."  Just so much meat to the smugglers.

Some analysts say that program may be in jeopardy after Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon's recent decision to allow police to ask a suspect his or her immigration status - a reversal of a 10-year-old policy - which may make many illegal immigrants reluctant to talk to police. Phoenix is the only major U.S. city that allows its police to ask criminal suspects for residency status. Typical bullshit. Illegals and their supporters can easily report crimes to the police, even if by phone.

Just last week, Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent 2,500 soldiers and federal agents to Ciudad Juárez to tamp down a bloody drug war. In October, Calderon and President Bush announced the Merida Initiative, a $550 million aid program to help fight transnational crime and drug cartels, and to improve border security. The White House calls the plan a "new paradigm for security" between the two countries. That's part of a 1.4 billion package.

But some Democrats have not embraced the initiative. They are upset that they were not consulted and that Mexico receives financial aid while funding for the federal Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, which provides money for local drug task forces in the United States, has been cut from $520 million to $170 million. The chicken or the egg?

Gabriel Clemente, 34, said he is looking for work on the Mexican side because of high coyote fees and the increased difficulty in getting across the border without assistance. EXCELLENT!!

Corazon, the migrant worker who lived for years in Arizona, has decided to stay in Agua Prieta, earning $80 a month unloading boxes of food. "This is home now," he said. Good choice.