CNN/AP: Mexico scraps plan to give maps to migrants

[DeepModem Mom]

Mexico scraps plan to give maps to migrants
Thursday, January 26, 2006


MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- A Mexican government commission said Thursday it will suspend plans to distribute border maps to migrants planning to cross the U.S. border illegally.

Miguel Angel Paredes, the spokesman for the federal Human Rights Commission, said the decision wasn't because of U.S. complaints, but because human rights officials in border states expressed concern that the maps would show anti-immigrant groups where migrants were likely to gather.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the United States opposes "in the strongest terms" the plans to distribute the maps.

The National Human Rights Commission, a Mexican government-financed agency with independent powers, originally said it would distribute at least 70,000 maps showing highways, rescue beacons and water tanks in the Arizona desert. (Full story)

"It is a bad idea to encourage migrants to undertake this highly dangerous and ultimately futile effort," Chertoff said. "This effort will entice more people to cross, leading to more migrant deaths and the further enrichment of the criminal human trafficking rings that prey on the suffering of others."...


http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/26/border.maps.ap/index.html