Mexico Increasing Deportations of Central American Migrants

Increasing numbers of Central American migrants are being detained and deported by Mexican immigration officers before they achieve their goal of reaching the U.S. border. This is a dramatic shift from only one year ago, when U.S. immigration and border control agencies were detaining larger numbers of Central American migrants, including many minors, at the U.S.-Mexican border than were being caught within Mexico. Immigrant and human rights organizations and think tanks attribute the shift to Mexico's Southern Border Plan, launched one year ago to stem the tide of child migration from Central America. They charge that Mexico has assumed the role of enforcing U.S. immigration policy, taking the heat off Washington for the bad image it has gained as a result of its treatment of Central American migrants, especially children. The treatment such migrants receive within Mexico, however, has also come under sharp criticism, due to numerous reports of extortion, sexual abuse, beatings, and killings of undocumented Central American migrants. Clayton Conn reports from Mexico City. teleSUR