Warning posters = 'source of dependable information'

This poster was released by the Humane Borders group today--and some people aren't happy about it.

"What's next? Are they going to buy them bus tickets to Chicago?" said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank. "It's clearly a bad thing for Mexico to be encouraging illegal immigration."

According to the Humane Borders' blog, it "offers humanitarian assistance to those in need through more than 70 emergency water stations on and near the U.S.-Mexican border." This morning, Humane Borders Inc. and Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights announced a "joint migrant safety education project" at a press conference in Mexico City.

And this was on a Humane Borders Jan. 19 press release: "The need for dependable information is urgent. On January 11, more than 1,800 migrants passed through the El Tortugo checkpoint, approximately 21 miles south of Sasabe, Arizona. This is alarming because it is both early in the annual migration and the numbers are higher than in any previous year. The percentage of migrants who are women and children is also increasing."

The map shows migrant deaths (as red dots) on the Arizona desert and warns that crossing through the desert is extremely dangerous. Mexico's National Commisision for Human Rights has agreed to print and distribute these warning posters and maps as a way of informing migrants of the actual dangers in the desert and as a way of assisting migrants in making responsible decisions.

"We are not trying in any way to encourage or promote migration," said Mauricio Farah, one of the commission's national inspectors. "The only thing we are trying to do is warn them of the risks they face and where to get water, so they don't die."

Farah also said migration "is a human right" and that "the United States should be grateful" the commission is doing something to curb the death toll, because "hundreds of thousands of Mexicans help maintain their economy."

And, according to the Associated Press, Mexicans working in the United States are a huge source of revenue for Mexico, sending home more than $16 billion in 2004, Mexico's second largest source of foreign currency after oil exports according to the country's central bank.

Amen to that! No wonder Mexican President Vicente Fox isn't doing anything about immigration. It's keeping his country rich!