Tag Archives: Mexico

For the First Time in Four Decades, More Mexican Immigrants Leave U.S. Than Enter

The Pew Research Center reported Thursday that more Mexican immigrants are crossing the border to leave the U.S. rather than enter it.

USA Today states that an estimated 870,000 Mexican immigrants entered the United States from 2009 to 2014, but 1 million returned to Mexico, including American-born children. The reasons for the historic shift include reuniting with family, the Great Recession in the United States that made looking for a job extremely difficult, tighter border security, and the fact that Mexico’s economy is improving, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of Hispanic research at the center.

Deportation also has a hand in these statistics, but only 14% of the 1 million were deported.

And while a lot of Mexican immigrants reportedly stated that family was the main reason for leaving, Dowell Myers, a public policy professor at the University of Southern California, told CBS News that the lack of jobs in the United States is the main reason for Mexican immigrants to leave, not family.

“It’s not like all of a sudden they decided they missed their mothers,” Myers said. “The fact is, our recovery from the Great Recession has been miserable. It’s been miserable for everyone.”

While the recover for the U.S. economy has been sluggish, Mexico has thrived over the recent years compared to the tailspins it saw in the 1980’s and 90’s. Inflation is manageable, the peso is stable, and the northern half of the country has boomed with manufacturing centers thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement. The manufacturing plants produce cars, heavy equipment, and airplanes.

In another twist, CBS News reports that Border Patrol arrested more non-Mexicans than Mexicans in 2014 due to more Central Americans fleeing violence in their countries and seeking asylum in the United States.

Tropical Storm Patricia Strengthens to Hurricane; Hurricane Warning Issued for Mexican Coast

U.S. forecasters reported to the AFP on Thursday that Tropical Storm Patricia was upgraded to a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center located in Miami is warning residents in the area to prepare.

Hurricane Patricia is expected to make landfall on Friday, bringing damaging winds around 100 miles per hour and flash flooding to the area.

The Weather Channel reports, as of 10:00 a.m. CDT, Hurricane Patricia was 240 miles south-southwest of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico and 285 miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico. The storm is moving at a speed of 26 kilometers per hour and is heading west-northwest according to the National Hurricane Center.

The Mexican coastal area between Cabo Corrientes and Punta San Telmo has been issued a hurricane warning, and surrounding areas have been issued a hurricane watch, tropical storm watch, and tropical storm warning.

Forecasters told AFP that Hurricane Patricia is expected to accumulate 6 to 12 inches of rain and some isolated incidents may see up to 20 inches of rain.

Border 40 Percent Secure; 1 in 5 Intercepted Illegals Have Criminal Record

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol testified to Congress that less than half of the southern border is under “operational control.”

Brandon Judd cited violent conditions as part of the problem and added that one out of every five people caught attempting to enter the U.S. has a criminal record in Mexico or the U.S.

In 2014, the border patrol caught around 486,000 illegal immigrants, but only 91,000 were returned to Mexico.

“This is the challenge we are facing at the border today. There are those who will point to lower apprehension rates and tell you the border is secure. Border Patrol agents, however, throughout this nation will tell you the border is not secure and the southwest border certainly is not safe,” Judd testified.

Judd also said that drug cartels are a major issue.

“These cartels are well organized, heavily armed, and pathologically violent. To give you sense of the violence the official death, as quoted earlier, toll from the cartel violence in Mexico is 60,000. This is more than the United States military lost in in Vietnam. However, the unofficial death toll in Mexico is over 120,000 killed and another 27,000 missing and presumed dead,” Judd said.

“In Mexico, the cartels kill without hesitation or fear of prosecution. In May of this year, cartel members shot down a Mexican Army helicopter in the State of Jalisco. Why would we expect them to behave any differently on the U.S./Mexico border?”

Environmental Protection Agency Admits Toxic Sludge Will Contaminate Water into Mexico

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is admitting the toxic sludge released into the Animas River by an EPA work crew is going to pollute rivers all the way into Mexico.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted waters will be polluted into Utah, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation reservation and into Mexico.  McCarthy said at a press conference they would use the “full breadth of the agency” to try and clean up their spill.

“We’re working around the clock,” McCarthy said. “It pains me to no end to see this happening.”

While they admitted they are the source of the leak, EPA official say they still don’t know exactly what happened to cause the toxic waste to reach the river.

“We’ve launched an independent investigation to see what happened, and we’ll be taking steps to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” Shaun McGrath, the EPA administrator in charge of the region, told reporters on Monday.

Officials said the Animas River and the San Jan River into which the Animas feeds will be closed to the public at least until August 17th because of the toxic metals in the water.   Durango, Colorado and the New Mexico cities of Aztec and Farmington have been forced to shut off their river intakes for resident water supplies.

The EPA workers also admitted that many of the heavy metals will sink into the sediment of the rivers and could be stirred up when a major storm hits the region causing flooding or increased water flow.

Claims are now being made against the EPA by local residents who have suffered hardship because of the spill.  Under federal law, the EPA is financially responsible for damaged caused by any mistakes made in clean up of toxic sites.

Mexico’s Colima Volcano Erupts

The Colima Volcano erupted again on Saturday, sending ash and cinders high into the Mexican sky.

The intensity of the ash cloud forced the closure of Colima’s airport and at least half a dozen small communities around the base of the mountain had to be evacuated.

“The communities in this 12km radius are very small and don’t exceed 800 inhabitants. They have all been evacuated,” civil protection co-ordinator Luis Felipe Puente the BBC.

The mountain’s first eruption took place on Thursday and escalated through the weekend.  Local officials said the activity of the volcano was “atypical” and something not seen since the last strong eruption in 1913.

The volcano is known by the locals as the “Volcano of Fire”.

The Mexico Interior Department reported that 2 inches of ash had fallen on the village of Yerbabuena.   Rain in the region is making conditions worse as the ash thickens from the moisture.

Double Volcano Eruption in Mexico

The two most active volcanoes in Mexico erupted Wednesday, spewing large columns of ash and gas into the air.

Located to the south-east of Mexico City, the Popocatepetl volcano, also known as “Don Goyo,” registered 60 explosions within 24 hours with one of the explosions reaching over 3,000 feet into the air.

Within the same time period, the Colima volcano, known as the “Volcano of Fire” located 430 miles northwest of Mexico’s capital also registered several eruptions.

The governor of the state, Mario Anguiano Moreno, stated on Twitter that there is “no considerable risk for the population, since the wind is taking the ashes to the northeast of the state.”

There has been no calls for evacuations at this time.

Measles Outbreak At Disney Grows To 70 Patients

A measles outbreak traced to Disney theme parks in California continues to grow with 70 people sickened from the highly contagious disease.

The outbreak has now spread to five states and into Mexico with the majority reported in California.

State epidemiologist Gil Chavez told reporters that anyone who has not had the MMR (mumps/measles/rubella) vaccine should temporarily avoid Disney theme parks.  He also said highly crowded locations like airports or bus stations should also be avoided.

He said anyone who’s been vaccinated has nothing to fear.

State officials said cases range from 7 months to 70 years old.  About 25% of those infected had to be hospitalized and five of the sickened were Disney employees.

Chavez said California averages 4 to 60 measles cases a year, so 2015 is off “to a bad start.”  He said that it’s likely they won’t be able to find patient zero for this outbreak.

Kitty Litter Mix-up Caused Major Radiation Leak

The Department of Energy says a nuclear lab used the wrong kind of kitty litter to dispose of hazardous waste that lead to the major radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

The report states that the Los Alamos National Laboratory took actions with the material that one chemist called the creation of a “potential bomb.”  The LANL works on nuclear technology and other high level national security projects.

The lab reportedly used a wheat-based kitty litter instead of clay-based.  The resulting mixture is similar to plastic explosives according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

“This action may have led to an adverse chemical reaction within the drums resulting in serious safety implications,” the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General said in an October report.

At least 20 workers at the plant were injured by low levels of radiation as a result of the leak and the storage facility is still closed.  DOE estimates it could cost $500 million to reopen the storage facility.

Mass Grave Found In Search For Missing Mexican Students

Mexican authorities have admitted finding a mass grave in their search for 43 students who went missing last month after a clash with police.

Mexico’s attorney general told reporters the grave was discovered after information was obtained from two arrested gang members.

Police in the region had admitted to investigators that they had taken the students and turned them over to local drug gangs so the gangs could “take care of” the students for the police.

The incident has shocked Mexican residents to the point that 56 people have been arrested in the disappearance and local officials have been forced to resign.  The governor of the state has also stepped down because of the mass corruption of the police department.

The mayor of Iguala, where the children were taken, is on the run along with his wife and the police chief.  The mayor reportedly ordered the students to be intercepted so that his wife would not be interrupted during a speech.

Four Terrorists Tried To Cross Mexican Border

A Congressman has revealed information that the administration had been trying to hide regarding the capture of four terrorists attempting to sneak into the country through the unsecured southern border.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah told reporters he was informed that four individuals with ties to Middle Eastern terrorist organizations were arrested attempting to enter the country the day before the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Rep. Chaffetz was on a committee questioning Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson who testified in the hearing that “no specific cases came to mind” when asked about terrorists being stopped coming into the country. When the revelations from Rep. Chaffetz were mentioned, Johnson said he’d heard the reports but didn’t know how much credence to give them.

“Over the last 351 days, yet by Homeland Security’s own numbers, 157,000 people got away. And the people we did capture, they come from 143 different countries. Thirteen were from Syria, six were from Iraq, four were from Iran,” Chaffetz said. “We have a porous border. We are worried about every story on the news tonight is about ISIS. I’m worried about them actually coming to the United States and crossing that porous border and getting into the homeland.”

Johnson did admit that since so many people cross the border it would be impossible to stop every terrorist that would try to enter the country.