Immigrant and Native Fertility 2008 to 2017

Patrick McHugh
March 14, 2019 - 1:33pm
Source: Immigrant...

U.S. Resettled More Refugees than Any Other Nation in 2017 and 2018

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New data released by the UN refugee agency on its 2018 resettlement ac...

Stacey Wilson-Forsberg, Wilfrid Laurier University and Iván Francisco Porraz Gómez, ECOSUR

The day we arrive in Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, the southern Mexican state that borders Guatemala, all is quiet. A violent confrontation had occurred just the day before: Central American migrants, mostly from Honduras, had thrown rocks at Mexican migration officials who attempted to stop their entry into Mexico over the international bridge. Many of the migrants hope their final destination will be a better life in the United States.

As we approach the town, we chance upon a small caravan of about 30 men, women and children walking along the road in the scorching sun. They are in rough shape and we decide not to take photos today. We don’t want to compromise their privacy. Dignity is one of the few things these people have left.

Left is a map of the area detailed and right is the border crossing. Source: Google maps 

U.S. President Donald Trump’s insistence on building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out “illegal” migrants receives constant media coverage. However, outsiders to the procession know little about the frontera sur — the 871-kilometre stretch of land between southern Mexico and Guatemala that is the gateway to North America.

We are two researchers: one in human rights from Canada and the other in social anthropology from Mexico. We visited the border region last month to observe daily life and to gather information with the hope that these details will help us to change the media narrative that often dehumanizes Central American migrants.

Since October 2018, thousands of people have entered Mexico in several “caravans.” Most of them cross the Suchiate River that cuts through Tecun Uman, Guatemala and Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico and continue their journey through Mexican territory.

The small caravan we witness is accompanied by Mexican federal police and several government migration vans. We are unsure if the vans are empty or full of detained people. We later learn that the federal police are leading the caravan away from the larger city of Tapachula (near Cuidad Hidalgo) and out of the state of Chiapas.

Central American migrants wait to be processed by Mexican migration officials on the international bridge connecting Mexico and Guatemala. Iván Francisco Porraz, Author provided

 

The migrants will find Good Samaritans who will give them water, tortillas and diapers along their journey. However, patience is wearing thin toward their burgeoning presence in the centre of Tapachula.

The migrants are nameless people: “nobodies” with little choice but to continue the journey northward to Mexico City and ultimately to the U.S. border. They travel in groups because there is safety in numbers. The region is notorious for criminal gangs and human trafficking.

As migrant caravans become commonplace, life carries on along the Suchiate River. It has become a place of permanent mobility.

What will happen when you go home?

The Honduran exodus is the result of a fateful combination of unemployment, environmental degradation and generalized violence.

The Honduran government does little to improve the deeply embedded poverty and inequality that foster these conditions. A long history of sustained U.S. intervention in the region has aggravated the situation and accelerated the human exodus..

This “mixed migration” phenomenon does not easily fit into the narrow definitions of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The migrants have international protection needs, but they are also seeking to improve their economic situation. Many hope they will reunite with family members in the U.S. Nevertheless, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) asks the question: “What will happen to you if you go home?” The vast majority respond that their lives are in grave danger.

Humanitarian visas

Day-to-day survival is the goal of this vulnerable population.

Applying for refugee status in Mexico is the best option for survival in the long term. However, the country’s refugee determination process is backlogged and unpredictable.

A humanitarian visa allowing the migrants to live and work in Mexico for one year is fast but temporary. For desperate people, one year seems like a lifetime. In their situation, they can’t think ahead.

It seems that the Mexican government’s response to the caravans has been reactive rather than pro-active. The result is semi-controlled chaos.

One day the Hondurans enter Mexican territory legally with humanitarian visas and the next day they are denied visas and barred entry. Those who take their chances by swimming across the river are detained and deported.

Life goes on

Migration from Central America is a historical and socio-economic reality. But the constant movement of border residents back and forth to buy and sell goods also adds to the frenetic environment of the frontera sur.

At the shore of the shallow river, we watch merchandise crossing from Guatemala to Mexico on small wooden planks balanced on rubber tire tubes. Men in waist-deep water pull the makeshift boats and guide them with long poles.

A young woman prepares Salvadoran pupusas on the strip of land between Mexico and Guatemala. Stacey Wilson-Forsberg, Author provided

 

Shipments of mangoes, corn flour and feminine hygiene products in purple boxes are neatly piled along the shore in an effort to avoid paying customs duties.

At the quieter forested border crossing of Talisman, Chiapas, a long queue of smashed cars awaits entry. The cars are towed over 3,000 kilometres from the U.S. border city of El Paso to Chiapas. They are repaired in Guatemala and sold throughout Central America.

On the strip of land between Mexico and Guatemala is an improvised pupusa eatery. We ask the young woman preparing our lunch whether the pupusas are Honduran or Salvadoran — an ongoing debate around here. “Salvadoran,” she replies. The young woman identifies as Salvadoran, although she was born in Mexico and has never actually been to El Salvador, a mere 12-hour drive from the border.

People will continue to flee Honduras and the other Central American countries. High numbers will walk over Mexico’s southern border in large and small caravans. They will stop to rest and attempt to make money by selling fruit and candy or begging, and then they will continue their journey northward.

As they pass through, life goes on in the hot, humid and hilly stretches of land where tumultuous Central America and the poorest part of Mexico meet.

Stacey Wilson-Forsberg, Associate Professor Human Rights & Human Diversity, Wilfrid Laurier University and Iván Francisco Porraz Gómez, Profesor-Investigador, ECOSUR

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Click hear to read On Mexico’s southern border, migrants seek to survive one day at a time

There has been some criticism of the University of Texas board of regents’ selection for the presidency of UTEP, evidently coming from members of some gay communities.

I don’t know what discretion the president of UTEP will have over sexual preference issues at the school.

I can only imagine that at the first sign of perceived discrimination she will be faced with a lawsuit.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

Sport is the best entertainment regardless the age and sex. Take an example football or soccer. There are many eyes watched World Cup than Olympic. Every country has its own popular sport. But, Mexico offers stunning sports event in March 2019. Whether it is an International or local sports events, it amazed you. Maraton Lala 2019 This is annual sports event which take place different place in Mexico. In 2019, this sport events take place

USCIS Closing International Offices

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USCIS, which is responsible for adjudicating immigration benefits, has announced that it intends to wi...

What began as casual coffee shop chats among five El Pasoans has developed into an ongoing friendship and a joint creative venture.

Edward Reyes, Jacqueline Aguirre, Javier Hernandez, Carlos Humphreys, and Aryk Gardea met by being regulars at Joe Vinny and Bronsons Bohemian Cafe on Piedras Street in Central El Paso.

After discovering a shared appreciation for art, they decided to work together to support their vision of a community gallery. They secured a narrow space next to the coffee shop and opened Galeria Cinco Puntos in January.

Gardea, whose background is in art with a BFA in ceramics and painting from UTEP and a MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in sculpture, pitched the idea of launching the gallery with an exhibit featuring the Horned Toad Prints exchange.

Galeria Cinco Puntos founders, clockwise from back left, Edward Reyes, Jacqueline Aguirre, Javier Hernandez and Carlos Humphreys. Photo courtesy Jacqueline Aguirre.

“We started with this print exchange because it focused on the community on a larger stage,” said Aguirre, a multimedia journalist student and art enthusiast.

Horned Toad Prints showcased works from its second print exchange in featuring print works by artists from all over the world, including pieces from Mexico, Australia and Ireland.

The print exchange was an opened themed worldwide invitation for printmakers to send ten original-made pieces using intaglio, lithography and relief of serigraphy printing techniques to Horned Toad Prints. Two pieces from each artist were selected for educational purposes and exhibitions.

“The print exchange is a great way for printmakers who trade prints to get to know each other and build their personal art collection,” said Manuel Guerra, the owner of Horned Toad Prints.

It is also an opportunity for El Pasoans to see what is happening in and outside their community in regards to art and culture, he said.

“Our goals for our exchange are to promote local, national and international artist from various professional levels and different backgrounds,” Guerra said. “We produce and exhibit work from established and emerging artists with emphasis on cultural diversity of the Latino community. And we promote awareness of the Latino art and its importance in the community”.

Galería Cinco Puntos official logo created by Jacqueline Aguirre hangs outside the gallery.

Galeria Cinco Puntos is self-funded by the five founders who hope to form a non-profit to support showcasing more community artists and reflecting a strong border spirit.

“We are more than the violence and so and so forth, we have other beautiful things we want to display,” Reyes said.

Living on the border has a unique influence on artists’ work, Guerra said.

“I think that it is an inspiration living here in El Paso, right next to Juarez and the border, there’s no place like it on Earth” said Guerra. “El Paso art is very human,very homely”.

The gallery is located in El Paso’s Five Points area at 822 North Piedras Street, between Joe Vinny & Bronson’s Bohemian Cafe and Coconuts Bar & Grill. More information is available on the gallery’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GaleriaCincoPuntos/

 

Click hear to read Art lovers unite to launch new community gallery in Five Points neighborhood