Mexican Massacres, Immigration Control, and the Obama Administration
Ray Walser /
The cold blooded murder of 72 illegal migrants by members of Mexico’s notorious Zeta cartel in the state of Tamaulipas is another stark and gruesome reminder of the current criminal and drug-related turmoil in Mexico. According to press reports the victims came from Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil and Ecuador. The lone survivor stated the migrants were killed for failing to pay off their Mexican captors. This massacre runs against the conventional narrative that the escalating violence in Mexico primarily pits drug trafficker-against-drug trafficker. It shows the significant overlap between transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling.
Why then were these migrants and tens of thousands like them still willing to risk the perilous journey? Why is there still such a high expectation that migrants will successfully cross the U.S.-Mexican border and find shelter in the U.S? (more…)