ARIZONA LAW DESTROYS THE IMAGE OF THE UNITED STATES IN MEXICO (Pew survey)

The approval of the migratory law in Arizona substantially lowers the opinion that Mexicans have of the United States, its people and its president according to a poll taken on Thursday.

Of the 22 nations surveyed in the poll, public opinion of the United States declined only in Mexico according to the Pew Poll of Global Attitudes. Only 49% of Mexicans expressed a positive view of our neighbor to the North, compared to 57% last year.

The major decline in the general opinion of the United States in Mexico was due, in part, to the bad feelings caused by the Arizona migration law.

The Arizona law requires the police to confirm the immigration status of whomever they suspect is illegally in the country and every criminal illegal immigrant.

The favorable opinion of the United States fell from 69% to 56% in 2009, but there are big differences in the polls before and after Arizona approved the measure on the 23rd of April. In a poll taken between the 14th and 20th of April, 62% of those questioned had a positive view of the United States, compared to 44% of those questioned between the 1st and the 6th of May, according to the study.

Upon being questioned about the administration of the respective Presidents, 54% disapproved of President Barack Obama and some 43% disapproved of President Felipe Calderon while 75% disapproved of Governor Jan Brewer.

Before the approval of the law (SB1070), 47% of Mexicans had confidence in the international leadership of Barack Obama, but now only 36% have that confidence.

In other Latin American countries there is little confidence in Barack Obama. In Argentina there is barely 10% approval because of Iraq and 11% approval because of the situation in Afghanistan. In Brazil 48% disapprove of his (Obama’s) policies in Iraq and 43% disapprove of his policies in Afghanistan.

The United States enjoys the best opinion in other Latin American countries like Brazil (62%), and in Argentina where 42% approve and 42% disapprove of the United States.

Brazil is the country with the most citizens worried about climate change (58%) and is one of the few countries content with its economic situation (62%). The other countries happy with their economy are China (91%), India (57%) and Poland (53%).

The results of this poll were taken telephonically from people in 22 nations of which only Argentina, Brazil and Mexico were Latin American nations. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The Pew Center has taken opinion polls about a variety of issues since 2001 over the entire planet.

http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=9961155&IdCat=6087

Two henchmen who participated in an ambush of federal policemen in Michoacan have been detained. One man is from Zitacuaro and the other from Lazaro Cardenas, in Eastern Michoacan.

Both men, aged 20 and 22 years are believed to be part of La Familia. The ambush lasted around 20 minutes and up to 35 henchmen participated in the attack. One gunman, known as “El Beto,” died in the confrontation.

According to official records released yesterday 91 Juarez policemen have quit voluntarily this year. Three others were let go “for loss of trustworthiness.” Just last weekend, at the funeral of one of their fellow workers, some members of the Juarez police expressed their desire to quit for fear of losing their lives in what they themselves called “a lost war” against organized crime.

This year, nineteen Juarez policemen have been assassinated during ambushes by organized crime. Another 46, from other law enforcement agencies, have been murdered in Juarez so far this year; they include 9 federal police, 5 state investigators, two traffic police, a jail guard, 4 CIPOL (intelligence center police,) 2 Public Ministry agents, 2 technical experts, and 2 private security guards.

As has happened in other occasions earlier this year, Mexican federal police in Chahuites, state of Oaxaca, assaulted some 300 Central American migrants riding a freight train. A priest from a shelter for transients in that area said that, “As in the previous two assaults, the agents acted brutally……..and kicked them while (the victims) were face down on the ground.” After the assault, a group of migrants complained to the National Human Rights Commission with the help of the local Salvadoran Consul. But afterward, federal police agents threatened them with firearms and demanded that they retract the allegations in front of video cameras. Yesterday, a group of Salvadorans decided to leave Mexico voluntarily and return to their country. They were escorted to the border for their safety by Mexican naval personnel and agents from a Chiapas state agency.

http://rotativo.com.mx/migracion/migrantes-asaltados-por-federales-regresan-a-su-pais/33641/html/

Yesterday (Mon.) violence in Mexico caused the death by homicide of 79 persons. Of that number, 42 took place in three mass killings in the states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Michoacan. Mexico’s Ministry of Government “condemned” the cowardly assassination of members of the federal police in Zitacuaro, Michoacan (M3 Report of yesterday.)

El Siglo de Torreon (Torreon, Coahuila) 6/15/10 – also found in several others

Today in Taxco, state of Guerrero, someone fired from a house at a passing military vehicle. A battle ensued and the result was that 15 people died, all of them civilians in that house. Also found inside were 13 “long barrel” firearms, 5 handguns and a couple of fragmentation grenades. (Seventy-seven human remains were recently found near this same city. See M3 Report of 6/8/10)

An average of 54 migrants, both Mexicans and aliens, are kidnapped in Mexico on a daily basis. This charge was made by two members of the Migration Affairs Commission of Michoacan’s congress; the two intend to issue a call to officials of Mexico’s border states to deal with this problem because in many of the cases there is complicity by the local or state police agencies.

We Salvadorans are suffering from such a grave situation that we are reaching desperation. We aren’t able to come out of the terrible economic crisis that hit us recently. Almost 100% of crimes go unpunished, due to a corrupt and deficient system of justice. What country are we going to leave for our children? We are in a situation worse than war. In Congress, our country’s fathers, comfortably in their seats, bust their brains thinking of new laws to help reduce the problem; nevertheless, while these keep ending up in corrupt and inefficient hands, all will go on the same or worse and, to boot, the laws most obeyed are those imposed by criminals. The gangster judges daily decree execution orders as if it were a matter of killing dogs. This situation leaves orphans, widows, families and friends with a wound that is very difficult to heal. Gentlemen murderers, extortionists, gangsters, have pity, an entire society begs you, respect the most precious gift of a human being, which is life.

El Salvador’s National Civil Police reported 19 assassinations in the country during this past weekend. The murder tally for the first 13 days of June now stands at 173. And the year’s current total has reached 1,972, an average of 12 daily.

Take note of these two items....recall, just the other day that Calderon said ‘migrants’ in Mexico are treated SO WELL!

“Migrants assaulted by federal agents return to their country

“Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 6/15/10

Complaint: Mexicans kidnap migrants

MORE today....remember those ‘secure’ border crossing visas??? NOT so secure!

Stolen and illegal U.S. visas trafficked in Mexico

United States immigration and State Department officials fear that their newly developed, high-tech visas are being sold on the Mexican black market. The US government hoped the newly designed visas would help in curtailing rampant illegal immigration at the Mexican border, but investigators believe many of them are being bought or rented by Mexicans seeking illegal entry into the US.

Well over 11,000 of these Laser Visas, issued to Mexicans for legitimate travel into the United States were reported stolen or “lost” in just two border cities. Government officials claim this is a 15 percent jump from previous figures.

The ATM card-sized documents, which include the legal holder’s photograph and scanned fingerprints, were actually developed for use in 1998 hopefully to increase security and standardize documents used by Mexicans to cross the border since so many different types of documentation made the screening process cumbersome and confusing.

“While many may have been legitimately ‘lost,’ it seems probable that quite a few are either ’stolen’ or ‘reported stolen’ in order to sell them,” a U.S. consular official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

“There appears to be a healthy market for both buying and renting laser visas on the border,” she added.

Mexicans call these visa cards “Micas,” which allow bearers to cross into the US without other supporting documents. The card also allows them to travel up to 25 miles inside California or Texas and they may remain in the US up to 30 days.

According to figures provided by Reuters, 8,745 of the border crossing cards went astray last year in Ciudad Juarez, south of El Paso, Texas, and 3,095 in Tijuana, opposite San Diego, California. No figures were available for other cities along the 2,000-mile border.

The problem got so bad that the US Embassy in Mexico City revamped its visa policy late last year, but did not inform anyone of the mounting problem. The embassy now replaces “lost” or stolen cards with stickers placed inside passports hope this will curb the illegal market of the laser cards.

The paradox is that in an effort to beef up security at the Mexican border using state-of-the-art technology, the US may have made it even easier to compromise that very security.

Also, the US is getting zero help from the government in Mexico City during the course of investigations. While not speaking “on the record,” off the record some US law enforcement people believe elements within the Mexican federal and local governments are assisting in the diversion of legitimate visas.

While US authorities say they possess no concrete evidence that organized Mexican human trafficking rings overseeing the illicit trade are using these cards, many security experts believe there are several organizations trafficking in this document.

But Tijuana police claim most of the stray visas are sold by cash-strapped holders to human traffickers in the gritty industrial city of 2 million people, on a widely used route for Mexican illegal immigrants headed for the Californian border.

Recently, seven illegal aliens from Mexico were arrested for allegedly operating a fraudulent document ring in Chicago’s “Little Village” area. The organized crime enterprise generated approximately $2.5 million a year.

Found inside the residence was equipment used for making fake government documents, including: five high-speed computers, printers, ID card printers, scanners, laminating pouches, foil strips with security features, dozens of counterfeit identification cards, and other document-making paraphernalia. The estimated value of the seized items is approximately $10,000; the street value of the software is believed to be about $100,000.

Law enforcement commanders throughout the US believe that there are similar operations being conducted by Mexican organized crime cells. The Castorena crime family, a Mexican organized crime family that has controlled the majority of the fraudulent document manufacturing and sales trade in the US over the past 10 years, is believed to be trafficking in these new high-tech visas. Some even believe they are attempting to duplicate these cards.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2684-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2010m6d17-Stolen-and-illegal-US-visas-trafficked-in-Mexico

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