On Other Side of Border, Mexico Detaining Thousands of Migrant Children

By Patrick Timmons

Mexican immigration officials in Tamaulipas state give instructions to a group of Central American

immigrants intercepted as they crossed the country on Feb. 3. Photo by José Martínez/EPA-EFE

MEXICO CITY,  UPI  -- As the United States grapples with the separation of immigrant families, the same thing is happening across the border in Mexico.

When families with children are caught inside Mexico without papers, they are often detained in prison-like conditions and adolescents are often split from their parents.

Mexican law prohibits detaining migrant children, but it happens anyway because state-run children's shelters lack the capacity to handle the tens of thousands of children, mostly from Central American countries. Instead, Mexican immigration authorities detain children and their families and then deport them together after 60 days if there is no political asylum petition.

Official statistics show Mexico detained 16,191 migrant children from January to July 2018. Of those 8,662 were between the ages of 12 and 17; 7,529 were under age 12. Those under 12 are housed with their families; adolescents are detained separately.

Most of those apprehended under age 12 were traveling with at least one adult family member, but 432 were traveling without family.

Migrant advocates in Mexico have renewed their calls for the Mexican government to improve how it treats the migrant families and children it detains after the outcry this summer over the Trump administration's policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Not a crime in Mexico

Unlike in the United States, Mexico does not criminalize the unauthorized entry of migrants, Madeleine Penman, Amnesty International's Mexico researcher, told UPI. When immigration agents discover migrants without papers they take them into custody, placing them in migrant detention centers until they are deported.

It's a policy known as "assisted return," Penman said, noting that Mexico only uses the term deportation for migrants who have violated their visa conditions.

"In 2016, more than 40,000 children were detained in immigration detention. In 2017, child detentions decreased to about 18,000, with the decline mostly because of reduced migration through Mexico. But this year, child detentions have picked up again and 16,000 children have already been through migrant detention centers," Penman said, citing official statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute.

Most of the migrant children detained by Mexico this year come from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. For those under 12, almost 3,500 came from Honduras and almost 3,000 came from Guatemala, with most of these accompanied by family members.

"We've seen a number of cases of babies in detention for weeks on end, and there are mothers breastfeeding in detention centers," Penman said.

Conditions in migrant detention

"The problem is that officials -- out of negligence, out of will, or lack of capacity -- are not able to enforce the law in Mexico prohibiting child detention," said Ximena Suárez Enríquez, the Washington Office on Latin America's assistant director for Mexico, a human rights lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

Mexican immigration authorities can only detain irregular migrants. Political asylum seekers are not detained and are instead released into the community until their application is processed and approved.

Mexico's Human Rights Ombudsman has a dedicated office for migrant rights, headed by Edgar Corzo. The ombudsman has called for Mexican authorities to comply with the law prohibiting detention of migrant children.

The ombudsman issued a recommendation for implementing effective migrant child protection in May in a case of an adolescent Honduran girl arrested in Guanajuato and held in Mexico City's Iztapapala migrant detention facility, where she was raped. She filed a complaint against the facility. But Mexico's immigration authorities deported her to Honduras before an investigation could occur.

Lack of legal protection

Many of the state-run community shelters are similar to the migrant detention facilities, afflicted by negligence, abuse and lack of legal protection.

"Mexican federal and state laws are meant to protect all children," said Alberto Xicotencatl Carrasco, director of the Casa del Migrante in Saltillo, a migrant shelter run by the Catholic Church. "But what happens with migrant children and their families is that federal and state authorities pass the buck off between each other, leaving children in legal limbo and so children do not receive appropriate protection."

"There are many unaccompanied children and the federal immigration authorities send them to state-run children's shelters. But these shelters aren't equipped to provide these children with legal representation and so the child just remains in the shelter. Should they be given political asylum or repatriated? The state-run shelter cannot handle those questions. We have seen cases where unaccompanied migrant children are in state-run shelters for more than a year because they don't have legal representation and they don't have legal status in Mexico," Carrasco said.

The detention facilities and state-run community shelters in Tapachula, Chiapas, illustrate the problems. It's the first Mexican city many migrants encounter traveling north from Guatemala en route to the United States.

Tapachula's migrant detention center is Mexico's largest, and a hub for Mexico's detention of Central Americans crossing from Guatemala. Other large migrant detention facilities are in Veracruz and Mexico City.

In 2015 and 2016, a Citizen's Council with unprecedented access to Mexico's migrant detention centers calculated that 2,000 Central American children arrived in Tapachula each month.

Tapachula's state-run children's shelter has capacity for 64 children.

The children's shelters' minuscule capacity means that Tapachula's migrant detention facility is the only facility Mexican authorities can use to house children detained by immigration authorities.

Hope for change

Migrant advocates are hopeful for change with Mexico's new president taking office on Dec. 1. Corzo recently called on president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador to end the practice of detaining migrant children.

López Obrador campaigned on a message of wanting Mexico to welcome migrants. His nominee for Interior Minister, Olga Sanchez, also said she wants "a more humane, more empathetic policy" toward migrants. The Interior Ministry runs Mexico's immigration enforcement system.

Sanchez said last week Mexico would not be a policeman for migrants for the United States.

Until, and unless the USA gets involved in improving the lives of people in Central America, this migration will continue. America is of the habit of taking from 3rd world countries and is reaping the consequences of that most unChristian attitude. It's time to start giving back or become part of Latin America with its uncontrollable crime, violence and corruption.

Demonizing Russia Dangerous for World, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Warns West

It's always nice when a Nobel Peace Prize winner

agrees with your assessment of current geopolitics

The scapegoating of Russia, which is actively promoted by the West, is “inexcusable” as it pushes the world back into the Cold War era and puts it on the brink of a disaster, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire has warned.

Russia has become the latest victim of the blame game hysteria, which the US and its western allies engage in to justify their ever-increasing military spending, Maguire wrote in an opinion piece. “All armies must have an enemy to deem them necessary,” she said, adding that people “must be convinced that there is need for action to safeguard the freedom of their country.”

What also apparently drives the Western elites mad is the prospect of losing their perceived superiority and global hegemony in the view of the new rising powers such as Russia and China, the peace activist said. “Do we honestly believe that the Western allies are going to give up their power? My suggestion is: not easily,” Maguire wrote.

“The old dying empires will fight tooth and nail to protect their financial interests such as the petrol dollar and the many benefits that come through their power over poverty-stricken countries,” she warned.

It was the petrol-dollar that was the motivation for invading Libya. Gadaffi was on the verge of selling Libyan oil in currencies other than the American dollar. That could not be allowed to happen and the country was made to pay for such an anti-American idea. It's still paying! It will be paying for a very long time as the country was left in a phenomenal mess.

“The demonization of Russia is, I believe, one of the most dangerous things that is happening in our world today,” Maguire said as she denounced the “scapegoating of Russia” as an “inexcusable game” while saying the amount of propaganda spread by the western media is literally “a throwback to the Cold War era.” She also called on people to wake up to the real results of the West’s self-declared fight for freedom, which left millions in despair but greatly benefited the elites that “financially gained from war.”

“The people of the world have been subjected to war propaganda based on lies and misinformation and we have seen the results of invasions and occupations by NATO disguised as ‘humanitarian intervention’ and ‘right to protect’,” Maguire said as she accused the US and its allies, the UK and France, of being “the most military minded countries,” which are absolutely unable to resolve conflicts through dialog.

Of course not, you can't sell defense systems to countries that are at peace and have no fear of being invaded. The idea of western European countries being invaded by Russia is so utterly absurd, and yet they are spending trillions of Euros to protect themselves when that money could be used to make the world a better place instead of lining the pockets of the military industrial complex.

The peace activist then demanded that “the policies of demonization of political leaders as a means of preparing the way for invasions and wars” be stopped “immediately.” “Surely it is time that we in Europe refuse to be put in a position where we are forced to choose between [Russia and the US],” Maguire added.

She then called for sanctions against Russia to be lifted and trust among the nations to be rebuilt. “It is time for political leaders and each individual to move us back from the brink of catastrophe to begin to build relationships with our Russian brothers and sisters,” she wrote.

Mairead Maguire is a peace activist from Northern Ireland. She was one of the co-founders of the Women for Peace movement, which later became the Community for Peace People, aimed at helping to resolve the conflict in the region. For her peace efforts, she was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize together with Betty Williams in 1976.

Maguire has become an outspoken critic of the US and British policy in the Middle East, including the western invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan. She particularly refused to attend the 2012 Nobel summit in Chicago as it was hosted by the US State Department, which, according to Maguire, “is continuing with war, removing basic civil liberties and human rights and international law.” She has also been a vocal critic of Israel’s policies towards Palestine. - She can't be right about everything!

In 2009, she slammed the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the US President Barack Obama.

“They say this is for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples and yet he continues the policy of militarism and occupation of Afghanistan, instead of dialogue and negotiations with all the parties to the conflict,” she said at the time.

Former Venezuelan Officials Charged with Bribery Linked to Oil Company

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly Venezuela and Even Little Andorra

By Nicholas Sakelaris

More than two dozen people were charged with corruption linked to kickbacks taken in exchange for lucrative PDVSA contracts. Photo by Miguel Guitierrez/EPA

UPI -- More than two dozen people were charged with corruption in an alleged kickback scheme linked to Venezuela's state-run oil company.

On Thursday, a judge in Andorra, a tiny country located between France and Spain, charged 28 people, including former high-ranking Venezuelan officials, with receiving up to $2.3 billion in kickbacks to grease the wheels for the oil company, PDVSA. Prosecutors say the money was hidden in the Banca Privada d'Andorra, or BPA, a now-defunct bank linked to money laundering.

Half of those charged are from Venezuela. Nine are from Andorra and five are from Spain.

The list includes Nervis Villalobos and Javier Alvarado, former deputy energy ministers under former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government. It also includes Diego Salazar, the cousin of former oil minister Rafael Ramirez.

The investigation will focus on bribes that were given in exchange for lucrative contracts between 2007 and 2012.

Judge Canolic Mingorance said the accused conspired to take control of PDVSA's energy infrastructure. She's been investigating the case since 2012.

Andorran authorities shut down BPA after the U.S. Treasury found the bank was laundering money to criminal organizations.

Several high-ranking Venezuelan officials already have sanctions on them or have their assets frozen.

U.S. Treasury official Marshall Billingslea recently accused President Nicolas Maduro of "rapacious corruption" and of operating a "kleptocracy."

Venezuela blames U.S. sanctions for the collapse of the country's economy and PDVSA's woes, saying it's under attack by "imperialist foes."

No Lessons Learned: Next Financial Crisis to be Much Worse with US Dollar Collapse – Peter Schiff

Meanwhile, as the Americas criticize and threaten Venezuela over its financial collapse, the USA itself is very vulnerable to financial meltdown.

© Dado Ruvic / Reuters

A decade after the global financial crisis, the world is facing another crash even bigger than the one in 2008, according to veteran stock broker Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital.

“The too big to fail banks are now both bigger than ever, and more exposed than ever to rising rates and recession. So the systemic risks to the economy are greater now than they were in 2008,” said Schiff.

Such banks should have been allowed to fail a decade ago, he says. “The moral hazard associated with the government having made the mistake of bailing out banks that should have been allowed to fail. Unfortunately, no lessons were learned from the last crisis. We repeated, and expanded all the mistakes that caused the last crisis, ensuring the next one will be much worse,” he said.

According to the investor, all the problems that caused the 2008 financial crisis loom even larger now. “The even worse monetary and fiscal policy since the last crisis guarantees the next one will be much worse. The crisis will be similar in that government will be the cause, everyone will be caught by surprise, and capitalism will be the scapegoat, but it will be much different in that it will be much worse,” Schiff said.

However, the nature of the next crisis would be different, Schiff predicts. While the 2008 crisis was centered around mortgage debt, dollar rise and gold fall, the new one would be about the US Treasury debt crisis. “Treasury debt will be the focal point of the next crisis, and the dollar will collapse and gold prices will soar. The ensuing recession will be much worse as consumer prices will also rise sharply.”

America's spectacular debt leaves them vulnerable to countries that are not necessarily close friends. Saudi Arabia and China control considerable amounts of American debt. We treat the kingdom very well, but remember who was behind 911 - these people are not our friends. China is being bullied by the US, justifiably, perhaps, but there are also areas of potential serious military and political dispute. China is closer to Russia than it is the USA. What happens if those countries conspire to bring about rapid interest rate increases? Will America follow Venezuela's hyper-inflation pattern? It's a little disconcerting.

In Canada, the Liberal government is spending like a drunken sailor, rapidly increasing the national debt and leaving us far more vulnerable to financial collapse than we need to be. 

Military Intervention in Venezuela ‘On the Table,’ Says OAS Secretary General

Is it time to overthrow another elected government in the name of democracy?

Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro waves to people during his visit to the Colombia-Venezuela border at the Simon Bolivar international bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, September 14, 2018. © Carlos Eduardo Ramirez / Reuters

The head of the Organization of American States (OAS), accused by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of being a “CIA agent,” says military intervention against Caracas should not be ruled out as a response to the ongoing crisis.

OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro has hinted that the bloc may consider taking military action in Venezuela if it runs out of diplomatic options in its bid to alleviate the plight of people in the crisis-stricken country.

“With regards to a military intervention aimed at overthrowing the regime of Nicolas Maduro, I think we should not exclude any option,” Almagro said on Friday.

Venezuelans have been fleeing to neighboring countries in droves due to shortages of food and water, as well as soaring inflation and unemployment at home.

Almagro was wrapping up his three-day trip to Colombia, which has been heavily impacted by the inward movement of refugees from Venezuela. Some 3,000 Venezuelans are estimated to be crossing into the country every day. Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Chile have also been sharing the refugee burden, with Brazil deploying troops to the border to restore order in the borderline state of Roraima after fierce clashes erupted between locals and migrants.

Almagro has frequently traded verbal blows with Maduro. Speaking in the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Friday, the OAS chief called the Venezuelan leader a “dictator” and Cucuta “the city that best exemplifies the lies of Venezuela’s dictatorship.”

The comments come shortly after an explosive report in the New York Times, which claimed that the administration of US President Donald Trump has long conspired with a group of Venezuelan officers to depose Maduro. The clandestine negotiations, which involved US officials engaging with a military commander on their own sanctions list, reportedly kicked off in autumn 2017 and continued throughout last year.

According to the NYT, US officials eventually decided not to endorse the plotters, who had asked their US handlers to provide them with material supplies, including encrypted radios.

When confronted with the report, the White House did not outright deny that it had been engaged in secret talks with mutinous officers. “The United States government hears daily from the concerns of Venezuelans from all walks of life – be they members of the ruling party, the security services, elements of civil society or from among the millions of citizens forced by the regime to flee abroad,” the White House National Security Council (NSC) said in a statement.

Almagro and Maduro have been embroiled in a long-running war of words, exchanging insults and calling each other “traitors.” Back in 2016, Maduro accused Almagro of being a “CIA agent” and of turning the OAS into a US pawn. The OAS chief then fired back, denying that he was with the CIA and accusing Maduro of slander. “And your lie, even if it repeated a thousand times, will never be true,” he wrote at the time.

The US has been pushing for the suspension of Venezuela from the OAS, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging members to kickstart the procedure so it “would send a powerful signal to the [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro regime.”

At the organization’s 48th assembly in June, Washington failed to secure enough votes needed for the proposed suspension, which was celebrated as a victory by Caracas.

Venezuela, however, wants to leave the bloc on its own terms. Back in 2017, it formally started a withdrawal procedure and will cease to be a member by 2019.

Does that mean that the OAS will have to invade Venezuela before they cease membership in the organization? Or do they think they will have the right to afterward?

How Islam Will Conquer America - Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Dawa is not terrorism, it is the act of missionizing but when radical extremist elements start to preach Dawa they have a new agenda. They pray on the vulnerable, lonely, disaffected and troubled to convert for one purpose - Jihad.

video 4:18

Anti-Islam Book Becomes German Bestseller Less Than Two Weeks After Release

Islamization Backlash - Bestseller Explains Some of the

Problems with Islam

Flying off the shelves © M. Popow/ Global Look Press

A new book highly critical of Islam and Muslims has been flying off the shelves in Germany to become a non-fiction bestseller. Mainstream media panned it for a simplistic approach to the religion.

The controversial book titled “Hostile Takeover: How Islam Impedes Progress and Threatens Society” reached the number one spot on Der Spiegel’s non-fiction list after being on the market for less than a fortnight. It’s a critique of Islam as a religion, which the author sees as detrimental to people sharing it, based on a literal reading of the Koran.

Written by one-time SPD politician and former member of the executive board of the Bundesbank, Thilo Sarrazin, the work comes eight years after Sarrazin’s previous take on Muslims titled “Germany Abolishes Itself”. Focusing on what he called a failure of multiculturalism policies, that book accused Arab and Turkish immigrants of “dumbing down” the German society, and shifted 1.5 million copies.

Speaking ahead of the release of his latest work last month, Sarrazin proclaimed that “everything has been worse than I predicted eight years ago.”

The release of “Hostile Takeover” comes during a period of heightened tensions in Germany, with much public attention focused crimes committed by immigrants. It was started by the murder of a man in the city of Chemnitz in August, which triggered massive anti-immigration protests in parts of the country with violent clashes erupting between left and right-wing demonstrators.

Calling Islam an “ideology of violence in the guise of a religion,” Sarrazin’s latest work had a somewhat bumpy path to the shelves. US-based publisher Random House, which signed a book deal with Sarrazin in November 2016, refused to print in in May, leading to a lawsuit from the author. The manuscript was eventually picked up by Munich-based FinanzBuch Verlag, a publisher that usually specializes in non-fiction books dealing with business and trading subjects.

Sarrazin’s new work has received praise in right-wing German weekly Junge Freiheit, but mainstream media outlets, both in and outside of Germany, have slammed the book. A review by Deutsche Welle called it a “distorted picture based on prejudice” and compared Sarrazin’s way of reading the Koran to that of jihadist groups. The UK’s Financial Times criticized its “reductive approach” pulling up Sarrazin for his lack of knowledge of Arabic and for not being either a theologian or religious scholar.

Of course, the Financial Times would certainly not listen to, or respond to a theologian or religious scholar! MSM, itself, has a very distorted view of religion of any colour and are completely out of their element in criticizing anyone on the subject. 

That MSM can still see Islam as relatively harmless points to their complete incompetence in both historical and current knowledge of Islam. Check out what Islam accomplished in 2017. Yes, it is about Islamic extremism, but extremism follows Islam very closely and increases as the percentage of Muslims grow in any society. 

Europe is committing cultural suicide by inviting Muslims in.

The criticism hasn’t stopped the book from becoming a best seller on online retailer Amazon, however, receiving an average 4.3 stars out of 5 from the 264 reviews made by online purchasers.