Crime along border pushes Mexicans into the US

They were just three births shy of 4,000 last year at the Laredo Medical Center maternity ward here in Texas. Three thousand nine hundred ninety-seven healthy, screaming new American citizens, of whom, estimates Armida "Armi" Calvillo, chief nurse, about half were born to visiting Mexican moms.

Mexican madres giving birth in US maternity wards in order to obtain better care - and blue passports - for their offspring, is as old as the border itself. But in recent months, say staff here, it's been increasing - in direct proportion, they suggest, to growing crime and insecurity in towns on the Mexican side. Another indicator: Real estate agents in Laredo report more wealthy Mexicans crossing the Rio Grande to house hunt, seeking a haven for their families.

"There are definitely more women coming over," says Carmen Hernandez, a technician in the ward, who herself is originally from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, just across the border. "With the situation so bad over there, wouldn't you make that journey?"

The US State Department issued a travel advisory on Jan. 21 warning US citizens of "increased violence among drug traffickers" along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border. But overwhelmingly, Mexicans are being most acutely hurt by the recent security crisis.

More than 115 Mexicans have been reported kidnapped or missing along the border area stretching eastward to Matamoros in the past six months. At least that many incidents have gone unreported, according to the Center for Frontier Studies and Human Rights in Reynosa. Since Jan. 1, 26 people have been killed in violence attributed to competing drug lords Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, head of the Sinaloa cartel, and Osiel Cárdenas, the imprisoned leader of the Gulf cartel.

In Nuevo Laredo, every day this week the local papers have led with reports of murders: A police officer's sister killed on Monday, the remains of a 30-year-old woman found on the dirt road leading out of town on Tuesday, and so on.

Many more stories go untold. That's because journalists, too, have been increasingly targeted. Six months ago, editor Roberto Mora, whose newspaper, El Mañana, had published stories about the Gulf cartel, was found stabbed outside his home in Nuevo Laredo. A month later, syndicated columnist Francisco Arratia Saldierna's body was dumped in Matamoros. Just this week, gunmen in nearby Monterrey opened fire on reporter Jorge Cardona Villegas of TV station Televisia, which had just come out with a report on criminal activity in Reynosa. [Editor's note: The original version incorrectly located Matamoros in Texas.]

"Mexican citizens living in border towns like Tijuana, Juarez, and Nuevo Laredo have been victims of drug-related violence for a long time," says Laurie Freeman, Mexico associate at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). "People just assume they were involved in the drug trade and leave it at that." But increasingly, she says, innocent bystanders are getting caught in the crossfire. "The drug cartels ... are becoming so powerful that they can pretty much do what they like and no authority will stop them," she says.

Page: 1 | 2