A Fence for the Southern Border…of Mexico
- Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:24pm by
Meredith Jessup
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Reporting from Guatemala City, Danilo Valladares of the Inter-Press Service (IPS) notes that there will be one more barrier for Guatemalan immigrants in their trek to the United States. In addition to dodging dangerous drug traffickers and immigration officials, the latest obstacle is emerging: a wall between Guatemala and Mexico.
According to the head of customs for Mexico’s tax administration, Raul Diaz, the Mexican border state of Chiapas is constructing a wall along the country’s southern border with Guatemala, along the river Suchiate which divides the countries. Diaz says the purpose of the wall is to prevent the passage of contraband, but admits, “It could also prevent the free passage of illegal immigrants.”
According to Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), 500,000 people from Central America cross into Mexico illegally every year — the vast majority of them attempting to reach the United States. In addition, smugglers reportedly use the Suchiate River to move goods across the international border without paying duty taxes.
Just as Mexican authorities have opposed more strict border enforcement and the construction of a border fence along the U.S. border with their country, Mexico is now receiving a great deal of criticism from Guatemalan officials. According to IPS, Guatemalan civil and government organizations have called the move “senseless,” saying a border fence will not prevent undocumented migrants from crossing the border on their way north.
“We are watching the Mexican government’s initiative with concern because the migrants are in a situation of highest vulnerability, as demonstrated by the massacre in Tamaulipas, where five Guatemalans died,” Erick Maldonado, executive secretary of Guatemala’s National Council on Migrants, told IPS.
Similar to areas surrounding America’s southern border with Mexico, the Guatemalan-Mexico border region is wrought with crime, including lawless drug cartels’ kidnapping and exploitation of migrants. On Aug. 23, 72 migrants heading north from Guatemala were brutally murdered in San Fernando, a town on the Mexican side of the border. Authorities presume the massacre was carried out by a well-known drug cartel. In addition, a total of 9,758 kidnappings of migrants were reported in Mexico from Sept. 2008 to Feb. 2009, according to the CNDH.
Putting up a wall on the Guatemala-Mexico border “is going to make the migrants’ situation worse, because to meet their needs they are always going to find blind points where there are no migration or security controls, which implies greater risks,” said Maldonado.
Despite eyewitness reports of Mexican border fence construction having commenced — including the mayor of the western Guatemalan municipality of Ayutla — Guatemalan authorities say the Mexican government has yet to comment on the project.
In recent years, the United States government has worked cooperatively with Mexico in attempts to crack down on the flow of drugs into North America. Under the Bush administration signed on to the “Merida Initiative” in 2007. The State Department calls the Initiative a demonstration of “the United States’ commitment to partner with governments in Mexico, Central America, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic to confront criminal organizations whose actions plague the region and spill over into the United States.”
In 2007, Bush pledged $1.4 billion in aid aimed at improving Mexican and Central American military and police security despite reports of widespread corruption and border-area incursions. In 2008, Congress voted to allocate an additional $1.5 billion to the Merida program despite dubious results. Under President Obama’s administration, the Merida Initiative has ballooned. Introducing a “new phase” of the program, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained:
We are expanding the Mérida Initiative beyond what it was traditionally considered to be, because it is not just about security. Yes, that is paramount, but it is also about institution building. It is about reaching out to and including communities and civil society, and working together to spur social and economic development.
In 2010 alone, the United States has given $450 million to Mexico, with an additional $100 million requested from Congress to be sent to Central America, in order to “provide equipment and training to support law enforcement operations and technical assistance for long-term reform and oversight of security agencies,” says the State Department.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has halted the construction of a fence on America’s own southern border and the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to prevent the adoption of localized border state laws attempting to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and drug-related violence.
While the Obama administration condemns the efforts of Arizonans and the calls from many Americans who insist on constructing a fence on the country’s southern border, will the U.S. government continue to funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to Mexico as they build their own border defenses?
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Comments (118)
DeadFred
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:21pmIf it were possible, I think I can see an advantage to returning to an “isolationist” policy…..Our money is going to Mexico to drill in the gulf, where O has banned drilling by Americans….we’re furnishing stoves to Kenya to “help the planet”…. an on and on, and on. This is pure crap….I’m 69 years old, and I’ve never seen a president treat his “own?” country with such disdain.
Report Post »alienguns
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:38pmI hear you DEADFRED…..I am only 56 years old and I don’t recognize the country that I remember as a youth…..where did it go? I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone——-And I wouldn‘t give one penny to any country that wasn’t on our side in EVERYTHING!!! not a penny to people that hate us unless it was in the form of a Cruise missile!!
Report Post »dfree11552002
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 9:33pmi agree wholeheartedly, we need to get to november very quickly!
Report Post »USAPLISKENXI
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 4:37pmLOL the sad thing is the stoves wont even be built here. And the money we send will end up in some ones pocket.!!
Report Post »kay2the2nd
Posted on March 22, 2012 at 12:43pmSecuring and protecting our borders is NOT isolationist.
Report Post »unionrockstar
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:17pmI have a few ideas on how to fix the problem
However, I really can’t post them here
Report Post »NEL
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 9:40pmMy husband has those same ideas :)
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:14pmSo its OK if a latino country builds a wall to keep other latinos out ?
Report Post »flagbearer
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:13pmHow long are we to put up with all this garbage?
Report Post »Contrarian51
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:51pm2012. Just a guess.
Report Post »FoundersKeeperUSA
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:17pmNovember.Glenns right this is a great awakening.We have to stand up and fight for our kids future.We will not allow these people to destroy our great country.
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:06pmWhat next, oh I know, a new hot tub for everyone south of the border. No wonder we are so far in debt. Billions to Brazil to drill for oil when we aren’t allowed to drill our own, billions to Mexico to drill in the Gulf of Mexico when our’s have been closed down…..this is just out of control.
Report Post »sbleve
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 8:25am1000 million is a billion. The dollars going off shore is shocking. Madoff book keeping must be the model used by government.
Report Post »tankchaser
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:05pmPresident Calderon seems to be a bit of a hypocrite here. Mexico can have a fence to keep the unwanted out of his country, but we can’t??? Our immigration laws are wrong, but his are just right, even though they are harder than ours ever even thought about being. What a HYPOCRITE. Here is a plan, lets let Mexico finish their fence, sense it sounds like we are the ones paying for it anyway, then when it is complete, Annex Mexico as our 51st state, or would it be 58 according to Obama. That way the fence we need on the southern border would be complete, also we lent the money for Mexico to drill with in the Gulf of Mexico, we could get the oil that we are not allowed to drill for anymore.
Report Post »Contrarian51
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:03pmThe progressives won’t be happy until we simply have no borders at all. As to Calderon denigrating our immigration policies and those traitorous members of Congress who gave him his stupid standing ovations, I have a proposal that I defy them to argue.
We’ll concede that our immigration laws suck. To rectify that, we‘ll adopt Mexico’s immigration laws and enforce them with the same vigor that Mexico does. What could be more fair than that?
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:01pmWell, add one more thing the list of things that PISS ME OFF and MAKE NO SENSE! This is beyond a slap in the face.. OUR TAX DOLLARS? Are you serious? PLEASE, REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER. (Do we really have to wait until 2012 to remove the dictator?) U*G*H*
Report Post »spendthrift
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:59pmThe true American citizen is being duped every second of everyday. The switch is being turned on. Watch Obama’s UN speech from today. He wants America and the world to be all the same, on your dime.
Report Post »Man From Maine
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:56pmNo wonder we need to tax the rich more. Who else is going to pay for things like this, new stoves for europe and other wonderful programs?
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:54pmJust thinking out of the box here…. Why not just annex Mexico? (I mean after we have a real President and a real Congress). Mexico is already our #1 importer of BOTH oil AND crime. The oil we need and the crime we need to PROSECUTE. Kill two birds with one stone. After which we’ll only have to protect that @300 yard long border with Guatemala.
Report Post »MESO71
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:52pmI like it! And we could sweeten the deal by Having the Mexicans declare a “war” so that we could send in the troops to clean up the drug gang mess before the deal is done. My opinion is that the typical Mexican citizen is hard working, honest, and God fearing… But at the same time they are polluted by many, many years of weak, corrupted government. Give them safe communities and a sense of real democracy and they clean up quite nicely IMHO. They could make a fine 51st state.
Report Post »LBreath
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 11:00pmThen we get the Israelis to accept the lower third of Mexico as their new sovereign state. Once they are out of harm’s way we let the bigots in the Middle East beat each other up for another 5000 years while we live in prosperity!
Report Post »tepartyblog.info
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 1:31am@LBreath
Report Post »Israel is too attached to the desert they live in now. We are a long way away from from being able to afford solving Mexico’s problems.
megansmom
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:53pmIs anyone actually surprised?
Report Post »TEXAS
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:48pmHay i have an idea, lets help them secure there northern border.
Report Post »BreeZee
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:44pmHA HA HA Anyone surprised? I am getting dam tired of the progressives and their friends. Get out and vote and take a friend or two.
Report Post »rocktruth
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:49pmYou’re right… Everything they do now is one big campaign. Nothing is by accident.
Report Post »rocktruth
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:42pmCreate more Jobs in Mexico? Just like the jobs created from the oil drilling in Brazil? Sounds like more redistribution of wealth to me.
Report Post »FoundersKeeperUSA
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:12pmThats exactly what there doing.
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 5:08amOh but Jesus taught that, dontcha know? (end sarcasm)
Report Post »sbleve
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 8:21amAnd Mexico is the ‘District of Southern States’? Direct and indirect money in the past decades has gone to Mexico with apparently little positive improvement. The concept that buying friends is absurd. Welfare based on some other persons money is the corruption of liberty and freedom. Mexico citizens live daily under such corruption and fear of lethal retaliation. Congress has over some time given their absolute authority within Balance of Power, to the King we call the Executive Branch. Here we are 200 + years away from the Lexington Green, fighting among ourselves Patriot-Loyalists over Independence democratic Republic vs central power planning King. Bennie talked that the ‘American monarchy’ will appear in some form.
Report Post »tdaly
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:38pmWe are sick and tired of giving our hard earned money to foreign countries. We had better start demanding that OUR money stays here. Make your voices heard on November third and demand it.
Report Post »rocktruth
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:47pmYes…. And in order to help anyone else we must first help ourselves.
Bring our Jobs home now! Pay the the American worker first!
Get off your butts and start making pies!
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:10pmNew Rule
Republicans vote Nov2
Democrats vote Nov3
Report Post »knikhusky
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:14pmAdd your comments
Report Post »mtnclimberjim
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:38pmmexico sucks
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:45pmMucho Grande
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:37pmStop watching the Mexican government’s initiative with concern and enforce the laws we have and do proactive intervention, NOW!
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:35pmPS
Report Post »thanks for the pith
Red Blooded
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:35pmBuild a wall on OUR southern boarder and stock it with 50k national guardsmen with orders to shoot everything that approaches the wall….
Report Post »Jsor2112
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:46pmThis sounds good to me. I am fine with anyone wanting to come here; I just want them to use the front door.
What would you do if your neighbor knocked on your door and wanted to come in and hang out?
What would you do if you caught that same neighbor sneaking in through an open window in a back bedroom??
M31Sailor
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:34pmSeems to me that Mex just wants to cut out the competition from rival US job takers from other countries.
Either build our own fence or put troops on the border, then take target practice.
Report Post »mtnclimberjim
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:34pmMexico can kiss my ass! All the illegal mexicans can kiss my ass. I’m sick of them and their country. The sooner they fall to anarchy the better. For their president to come over here and bash our immigration policy’s took a lot of balls. The sooner the drug lords cut his off the better. Was that to harsh? Deal with it.
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 5:04amNaaaa.
Report Post »ozmanrulez
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 9:51amI like that what can we do to help it along?anybody have his address so we can send it to the gangs there?
Report Post »USAPLISKENXI
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 4:33pmNope lol
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:33pmWhat kind of BS is the this? We can’t defend or support OUR own borders but we can pay to provide borders for a third world (virtual) terrorist state (Mexico) with our tax dollars? You know that we ARE all socialists when that is our reality.
Report Post »Republic
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:06pmWe are virtually hemorrhaging money to countries that hate us all around the world, so this does not surprise me, but still disappoints me in our nations leaders. This is our money for our country that they are ******* away.
Report Post »FoundersKeeperUSA
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:11pmIm i in the twilight zone?? We are losing our identity as a country.Every country has a right to secure there border except us?? The liberals/progressive’s have done a good job with there propaganda.Just look at Obama’s auntie.She literally thinks she has the “RIGHT” to be in our country because thats what were here for.This is what they think in there countrys?? Everybody lets go to america, we can get free housing and food stamps and wont have to pay for any of it!! Good thing is we are awake now and wont be fallin asleep again on our country! Come Nov. we will take back our country for the people and secure our border. Im with Glenn,Double fence with a two lane road between the fences along with drones patroling in the air.Cost?? 50 billion.
Report Post »knikhusky
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 1:19amFoundersKeeperUSA, hearing the audio today of O‘Bama’s aunt saying the things she said and the tone, and expectation that has. What a terrible attitude! She’s an excellent example of why we should drop all welfare programs and let those who need help seek it from their own communities. That’s where the churches come in. Harsh, maybe…but I, too have a brother who is mooching off the welfare system and he is about as arrogant as O‘Bama’s aunt is. It sickens me!
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 5:04amThis is absolutely sickening and wreaks of BS hypocrisy from our WH.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:33pmtime to welcome the 51st state? or just a new addition to a new world order?
Report Post »MESO71
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:22pmWell there you go. The Mexicans all want to be Americans anyway. We could send in the military to clean out the gangs (Before it becomes a state of course). And Then we could easily shore up a great deal of the drug trafficking, as Mexico‘s southern border is only a fraction of the length of it’s northern border.
Report Post »Then the Mexicans can celebrate three Independence Days… July 4, May 5, and the day we vote the liberals out of office!
MrButcher
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:29pmannexing mexico would be a NIGHTMARE! then all their problems become ours. not that they aren’t already, but then we’d be stuck with a ton of crap.
Report Post »MESO71
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:36pmYou are right, I was merely being facetious. Sometimes it is good to imagine a brighter future, even if only for a moment, before reality comes crashing back.
Report Post »If we stay the course and stick to our principals. The world will once again look up to our “Shining City On The Hill”. And The world will become a better place without government mandates on One-World this and that nonsense.
RightTiger
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 10:38amMESO71 – just for the record, May 5 is not Mexico’s independence day. It is celebrated much more in the US than it is in Mexico.
Report Post »Pelosis_Nemesis
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 12:26pmMexico’s Independence Day is Sept 16…it just passed I live in a border state there were no celebrations or big events or anything…..May 5th is a drinking day for the alcohol distributors in the U.S. to make money ….it is not celebrated in Mexico. Notice how nicely May 5th fits between St. Patrick’s Day (drinking day) and the Fourth of July(drinking day) Almost as convenient as Oktoberfest falling in the gap between July 4 and New Years Eve…it’s just a made up day to sell booze,beer and in this case burritos and pinatas ….yet those boys in CA were sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts on May 5th …. a drinking holiday ….not in anyway shape or form a national holiday of Mexico…what an embarrassment…in my state we don’t need a special day to celebrate Mexicaness I get to see it everyday…
Report Post »VegasGuy
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:32pmWhy is it I believe that Mexico’s Calderon does not see the hypocrisy of THEIR fence?
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 6:42pmFamiliar Rhetoric of Barack Hussein Obama Jr, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro Pelosi just to name a few
plunderpower
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:22pmI’m in favor of sending people caught here illegally in the U.S. to the border with Mexico for the purpose of having them work. They should be digging a large, deep trench and being made to install fencing which cannot be penetrated. The trench should be flooded. Once the work is done, those working on the project should be returned to Mexico along with our thanks for fixing the mess they made.
GOTT-EM-MAUSER
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:53pmNo Fence required. Claymores, Concertina Wire, and a $100.00 per head Bounty. Problem Solved.
Beckofile
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 10:43pmRedistribute the fence back to our border.
Report Post »VegasGuy
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 11:11pmGOTT-EM-MAUSER, someone needs to take your toys away until you grow up.
Armed Patriot
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 6:49amMilitarize the US side of the mexican border. After all the mexican side already is. The intelligence agencies have already named mexico as the second most dangerous country in the world.
Report Post »JackBoot101
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 11:36amWhy not build the fence and pay for it with our money? It makes as much sense as halting all US drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and then giving Mexico money to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. Beck is right you have got to look at this crap from the correct prospective.
Report Post »FreedomMissMeYet
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 11:39amGet the hell off our floor you puppet, and take our elitist enemies of the state with you. You’re talking about creating jobs in your homeland? 500 Years and the clock is still ticking, what are you waiting for?
Response to Calderon from Tom McClintock:
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldx8gZDwZWs#t=3m25s
independentvoteril
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 7:43pmhere’s what is needed.. let the MEXICAN army stand at their southern border and shoot anyone who is illegally crossing and WE will stand at our southern borders and do the same.. I am sure we can get enough AMERICAN CITIZENS deputized to do the job.. Time to create our own police force on the border..
poverty.sucks
Posted on September 26, 2010 at 9:01pmNorthern fence will collaps Mexico economy due to the fact that illegal immigrants wire money from USA to Mexico which is the 2nd largest source of revenue for the nations economy. By securing a southern fence, they can stop competion from reaching USA dollars.
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