[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 19, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3624-H3625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MEXICO ABUSES IMMIGRANTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is 
at the White House today complaining about America. He said Arizona's 
new law ``opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination, and 
abuse in law enforcement.'' He said he will do everything in his power 
to protect the rights and dignity of Mexican citizens. He's just not 
too concerned about human rights abuses of illegals in his own country, 
however. While he's here falsely accusing officials in Arizona of 
perhaps maybe one day in the future violating the civil rights of 
illegals in Arizona, his own Mexican government officials are 
committing human rights abuses against illegals in Mexico. Just last 
month, the Associated Press said Amnesty International called the abuse 
of migrants in Mexico a major human rights crisis. Amnesty accused 
Mexican officials of turning a blind eye or even participating in the 
kidnapping, rape, and murder of migrants.
  Now, the Mexican Interior Department said that mainly Central 
American migrants who pass through Mexico on their way to the United 
States suffer abuses, saying the criminal cartels branch out into 
kidnapping and extortion of migrants. Amnesty International said 
failure by authorities to tackle abuses has made their trip through 
Mexico one of the most dangerous in the world. They have ``virtually no 
access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain 
of abuses.'' The Amnesty report also says Central American migrants are 
frequently pulled off of trains in Mexico and are kidnapped en masse 
and held at gang hideouts. They're forced to call relatives in the 
United States to pay the ransom to the kidnappers. There are thousands 
of these migrant kidnappings each year in Mexico, according to 
Amnesty's report.

                              {time}  1700

  The report goes on to say, ``Kidnappings of migrants--mainly for 
ransom--reached new heights in 2009. The National Human Rights 
Commission reported nearly 10,000 migrants in Mexico were abducted 
during a 6-month period.'' Half of the victims said in later interviews 
that public officials in Mexico were involved in the kidnappings. An 
estimated six out of 10 migrant women and girls experience sexual 
violence. Some of the people-smuggling coyotes now demand that women 
receive contraceptive injections ahead of the journey so they don't 
become pregnant as a result of rapes they endure in Mexico. Many women 
are raped, beaten or killed in the process of illegally transporting 
themselves through the nation of Mexico. Illegals in Mexico can't 
complain about the abuse to authorities.
  According to the report, Article 67 of Mexico's Population Law says, 
``Authorities, whether Federal, State or municipal, are required to 
demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country'' of 
Mexico. Now President Calderon self-righteously criticizes Arizona for 
enforcing immigration laws, but his own nation requires the states in 
Mexico to enforce Mexico's immigration laws.
  The Amnesty report goes on to say and talk about an example of one of 
the horror stories of abuses of illegals that are in Mexico. On January 
23 of this year, armed police stopped a freight train carrying 100 
migrants in Chiapas State in southern Mexico. A girl who we'll call 
``Veronica'' said that the federal police--the federal government--the 
federal police forced her and other illegals in Mexico to leave the 
train they were riding on. They were forced to lay down on the ground 
where she says Mexican federal police stole their belongings and 
threatened to kill

[[Page H3625]]

them unless they continued their journey by foot along the railway. 
After walking for hours, the group was assaulted by armed men who 
sexually assaulted Veronica and killed at least one of the other 
illegals in Mexico.
  Now, Madam Speaker, it seems to me that President Calderon is here at 
the White House complaining about America, complaining about imagined 
and fictitious abuses in Arizona's new illegal immigration enforcement 
law, while he ignores actual human rights abuses of illegals and 
migrants in his home nation of Mexico. Perhaps he should clean his own 
glass house before throwing rocks at America, especially Arizona. 
President Calderon's nation is in economic turmoil. His economic plan 
is simple. He tells his citizens, Go to America by any means necessary, 
and send money back home to Mexico. He cannot take care of his 
citizens. His country abuses immigrants, and he is out of line 
criticizing the United States for any reason. His comments are 
hypocritical and irrelevant.
  And that's just the way it is.

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