Security issues and immigration flows: Drug-violence refugees, the ...

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“La Red” has almost 500 members, most of them enrolling just recently (Martinez, 2011). The school system may also be changing in important ways. There is no way to officially count the exact numbers of students transferring from Mexican schools to El Paso Schooling District, but some numbers provide evidence of Mexicans increasingly studying at the US. The number of students enrolled in bilingual or limited English proficiency programs has increased by 1,330 students from 2007 to 2010 even as the total number of students enrolled at the school district has dropped from 45,049 in 2007 to 44,778 in 2010 (Martinez and Torres, 2011; Torres, 2010a). These new Mexican immigrants are not only changing US border cities but also Mexican ones. Unoccupied dwellings in Mexican border cities are quite high and correlate strongly with the rates of drug-related homicides. According to census figures, 26% of all dwellings in Juarez are unoccupied, 20% in Tijuana, and 19% in Mexicalli. Other non-border cities facing drug-violence also have significantly low levels of occupancy: Chihuahua is 15% empty, and Monterrey, second most important city in Mexico, faces the same situation in 11% of its houses (Martinez et al, 2011) 9 . Some claim than forced migration has affected smaller, rural towns to the point of creating de facto ghost towns. Teachers, doctors, policemen, and public servers have left their communities without previous notice fearing violence episodes in communities of Tamaulipas, Michoacan, and Chihuahua. Ciudad Mier, a border county located south of Texas, is quite impressive case in this regard. My estimates account for a total displacement of about 430.91 individuals, something considerable given the city only counts with 6,662 inhabitants. Most of Mier migration happened in mid-2010 when Tony Tormenta, a Mexican drug-trafficker was assassinated (Corchado interviewed by Rios, 2010). Mier inhabitants, fearing violence and retaliation from Tony Tormenta allies, left the city immediately, creating a true state of 9 A poll conducted at Juarez showed that only 6.95% of all dwellings were empty, totaling about 32,858 thousand residencies (Velazquez Vargas et al, 2010). 18
emergency. The exodus of at least 100 families was so abrupt that Mexican authorities had to install a refugee camp in a neighboring community (Guzman, 2010). Other cases of refugee camps in response to traffickers’ turfs have also been created in Michoacan. In this Southern Mexican state, forced, unexpected migration has displaced at least 2.5 thousand Mexicans into refugee camps 10 . Migration flows within Mexico have favored cities with larger markets and employment opportunities. Mexico City, for example, has become a quite attractive place for relocation (MEPI et al, 2011). In the past, few businessmen wanted to move to Mexico City because of bureaucracy, the high cost of real estate, and lack of bank financing. Nonetheless, in 2010, about 6,500 businesses relocated into Mexico City coming from other states (MEPI et al, 2011). Mexico City has not experienced high levels of drug-related violence; In fact, it is much safer than at any point since 1994. Conclusion Mexican immigration is changing in fascinating ways. Immigration figures have reached their lowest point since 2000. Better socioeconomic conditions in Mexico and economic hardship in the US are among the main causes behind this trend. Yet even if as a whole the US is receiving fewer Mexican migrants, the opposite is true for cities located right at the border. Cities in Texas and other US border states are not only receiving more Mexicans but are receiving a different type of them. New Mexican migrants belong to the upper and middle class and cross into the US legally, some even bringing their own businesses and buying property. As a result, the face of some border towns has changed significantly. Housing prices have increased, many Mexican businesses have been opened, 10 Indeed, migration is not restricted to border communities but has also affected other highly violence counties within the country. Journalistic accounts have identified at least 70 counties where drug-violence has had important consequences for migration flows, particularly in the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Guerrero, Durango, Michoacán, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora y Tamaulipas (Zermeno, 2011). 19
Page 1 and 2: Security issues and immigration flo
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Page 7 and 8: —Reynosa citizen 2 Over the last
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Page 23 and 24: [18] Ibarraran, Pablo and Darren Lu
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