Free Republic

Spurred by three recent border-crossing deaths linked to frigid weather, Border Patrol officials in San Diego aim to work with Mexican agencies to create public-service announcements detailing the dangers of illegally entering the United States. “They are ill-prepared for the weather they encounter,” said Steven Pitts, spokesman for Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector. “A lot of them lack proper footwear or layered clothing. It’s the same in the summer — we find they lack proper water, clothing.” An unusual cold spell pushed the death toll so far this year to nearly half of San Diego border-crossing deaths in 2010. The...

For a generation, Mexican intellectuals have pondered the possibility of a “Greater Mexico” – the idea that Mexican immigration to the United States was so persistent and sustainable, that Mexican culture could “re-settle” lands lost to the United States at the conclusion of the Mexican American War. Americans, clinging to the belief of a “melting pot,” dismissed that notion, arguing that Mexican immigrants would follow historical norms and assimilate into mainstream American life, as previous generations of newcomers did before them. A new study by the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME), part of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations, offers insight...

OTTAWA -- The backlog of cases waiting to be heard by the federal Immigration and Refugee Board is ballooning, but Mexicans are being pushed to the head of the queue as the government tries to manage the massive influx from that country. The number of all potential refugees in line to appear before the board was up by 66 per cent in the past year, to 34,094 late last month from 20,500 in October, 2006. It's a problem that can be traced, at least in part, to the number of IRB seats that are unfilled. Although the full complement of...