Blurred Borders - International Community Foundation

arrests in the Hispanic population far surpass that of both Black and White population. Indeed,
in 1998, 40% of those arrested for domestic violence were Hispanics, compared to Whites
(34.3%) and Blacks (19.2%). Both the Hispanic and the Black population have much higher rates
of domestic violence-related arrests than their population share (California’s population in 1998
was 29.9% Hispanic, and 6.9% Black).
Data on domestic violence in Mexico is less comprehensive, and the available statistics show a
much lower rate of reported cases of domestic violence in Mexico than in the United States.
According to the National Secretary of Health’s 2002 annual report, a total of 5,009 persons
were hospitalized due to domestic violence in Mexico during 2002, 55 of which happened in
Baja California. 312 According to the director of Baja California’s Social Agency for the Family
(DIF), in the first nine months of 1999, the DIF handled 1,344 complaints of child abuse or
abandonment in Tijuana. As many as 13 children were placed in DIF’s shelter facility in Tijuana
over one weekend. 313 The number of reported child abuse is much smaller than in California,
where there are legal requirements mandating school and social service professional to report
suspected abuse and neglect. There were more than 660,000 reports of child abuse in 2000 in
California. 314 In 2001, 57,634 cases of child abuse were reported in San Diego. 315 But the low
(compared to the US) number of hospitalization due to domestic violence, and the low number
of reported cases of child abuse, do not mean that domestic violence is a minor problem. It is
possible that many victims did not go to hospital or report abuse to authorities, and it is
possible that awareness that domestic violence is a problem is weaker in Mexico than in the
United States. In a series of community forums carried out by ICF in 2002 in the five
municipalities of Baja California, participants in every forum expressed that domestic violence
and abuse against women were a growing concern.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Drug trafficking is one of the principal causes of the military-like nature of U.S.-Mexico border
crossings. And even though many more Americans die per year from alcohol-related crimes,
accidents and smoking cigarettes, the $21 billion per year National Office of Drug Control
Policy invests heavily in the cross-border interception of marijuana, cocaine and heroin.
Although there have been considerable success by both governments in reducing drug traffic,
Mexico remains the major transit country for cocaine entering the United States. While
Mexico produces less than five percent of the world’s opium poppy, geographical proximity to
the United States allows cultivators and processors to supply a disproportionately large share
of the U.S. heroin market. Marijuana grown in Mexico provides a significant supplement to that
grown by domestic cultivators in the United States. Additionally, Mexican traffickers figure
312
Secretaría de Salud, 2002, Anuario Estadístico, “Casos Nuevos” chart.
313
Speech by Rosalba Magallón de Gonzales Alcocer, cited in Binational Workshop on Children in the San Diego-
Tijuana Border Region (1999).
314
Children Now, California County Data Book 2001, p.3.
315
Children Now, California County Data Book 2003, San Diego County.
111