Desert Invasion - U.S.

Mexico to distribute maps to aid illegal immigrants

By Kansas City Star staff, Kansas City Star

January 25, 2006

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/13703631.htm?source=rss&channel=kansascity_world

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican government commission said Tuesday that it would distribute 70,000 maps showing highways, rescue beacons and water tanks in the Arizona desert to curb deaths among illegal border-crossers.

The National Human Rights Commission, a government-funded agency with independent powers, denied that the maps — similar to a comic-style guide booklet that Mexico distributed to migrants last year — would encourage illegal immigration.

Officials said the maps would help those in trouble find rescue beacons and areas with cell phone reception. The maps would also show the distance a person could walk in the desert in a day....

“What’s next? Are they going to buy them bus tickets to Chicago?” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank....

The booklet was distributed in early 2005 and warned of the perils of crossing illegally into the United States, while offering tips to stay safe. The booklet, of which about 1.5 million were printed, has enraged some advocates of stricter immigration policies in the United States....

The commission plans to hang the poster-size maps in March in places where migrants would see them, such as migrant aid groups, the commission’s offices and Mexican border towns.

They were designed by the Tucson, Ariz.-based rights group Humane Borders, which operates some of the desert water stations....

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